Wanda Yvette Sykes[1] (born March 7, 1964)[2] is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer.

She received Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nominations for her roles in ABC's Black-ish (2015–2022), and Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2020).

Aside from her television appearances, Sykes has also had a career in film, appearing in Monster-in-Law (2005), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Evan Almighty (2007), and License to Wed (2007), as well as voicing characters in animated films such as Over the Hedge, Barnyard, Brother Bear 2 (all in 2006), Rio (2011), two sequels of the Ice Age franchise (2012–2016), and UglyDolls (2019).

[5] Her mother, Marion Louise (née Peoples), worked as a banker, and her father, Harry Ellsworth Sykes, was a U.S. Army colonel employed at the Pentagon.

[6] Sykes' family history was researched for an episode of the 2012 PBS genealogy program Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Her ancestry was traced back to a 1683 court case involving her ancestor, Elizabeth Banks, a free white woman and indentured servant, who gave birth to a biracial child, Mary Banks, fathered by a slave, who inherited her mother's free status.

[10] Following a role with the National Security Agency (NSA), Sykes began her stand-up career at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase in Washington, D.C., where she performed for the first time in front of a live audience in 1987.

[10] Working for the Hal Leonard publishing house, she edited a book entitled Polyrhythms – The Musician's Guide, by Peter Magadini.

In May 2009, Sykes was the featured entertainer for the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, becoming both the first African American woman and the first openly LGBT person to get the role.

At this event, Sykes made controversial headlines as she responded to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's comments regarding President Barack Obama.

In 2012, Sykes played the role of Granny in Blue Sky Studios' Ice Age: Continental Drift.

In May 2013, Sykes was a featured entertainer at Olivia Travel's 40th anniversary Music & Comedy Festival in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

[31] In 2013, Sykes appeared in eight episodes of Amazon's Alpha House, a political comedy series written by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau.

Sykes condemned the actions of Smith stating on Ellen "For [The Academy] to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, 'How gross is this?

[10][41] A month earlier, Sykes married her wife Alex Niedbalski, a French woman,[42] whom she met in 2006.

[44] During a September 19, 2011, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Sykes announced that she had been diagnosed earlier in the year with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

[45] Sykes splits time between Media, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia,[46] and Cherry Grove, New York.

[55] Sykes has been nominated for seventeen Primetime Emmys, with one win (in 1999) for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music or Program."