Shawn Wayans

Shawn Wayans wasn't playing a DJ on In Living Color - he was the DJ. That was the entry point: Keenen Ivory Wayans put his little brother on the show as DJ SW-1, and it stuck. The real breakthrough came when the family took their comedy to film. Scary Movie (2000), which Shawn co-wrote and starred in alongside Marlon Wayans, cost $19 million and grossed $278 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film directed by a Black director at the time. Keenen Ivory Wayans directed, the brothers wrote and starred in it, and the Wayans family machine was fully operational.

After Dance Flick in 2009, Shawn essentially disappeared from screens. He pivoted to stand-up touring and DJing gigs, which doesn't exactly scream comeback arc. But in February 2025, Scary Movie 6 was confirmed with Shawn returning, and White Chicks 2 is in the works too. The NAACP inducted the Wayans family into its Hall of Fame the same month. After 15 years of relative quiet, he's getting pulled back into the franchise business his family built. Whether the nostalgia holds up is another conversation.

The ninth of ten Wayans siblings, Shawn served as DJ SW-1 on In Living Color while Keenen Ivory Wayans built the show around the family. The family grew up Jehovah's Witnesses in New York, which is an unusual foundation for a career built on raunchy comedy. After acting work thinned out around 2009, Shawn didn't chase smaller roles. He pivoted to stand-up touring and DJing, which is either a graceful exit or a long intermission depending on what Scary Movie 6 does for him.