Dewayne Perkins

Dewayne Perkins (born November 5, 1990) is an American comedian, writer, actor and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, he received improv training at The Second City and also worked for iO Theater, and his stand-up comedy was recommended by Variety magazine and the Just for Laughs comedy festival. He has appeared on Wild 'n Out and The Upshaws, was on the writing staff for The Break with Michelle Wolf, the Saved by the Bell reboot and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and is a staff writer for The Amber Ruffin Show, for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. He is the co-writer and star of the horror-comedy film The Blackening.

Perkins was raised on the south side of Chicago near Marquette Park, attended Hearst Elementary School, and graduated from Curie High School, where he was the first African American male student to receive an International Baccalaureate Diploma. He attended The Theatre School at DePaul University but was cut after his first year and changed his major to film and animation, where he was introduced to The Second City by his best friend and writing partner Aasia Lashay Bullock. After college he continued at Second City and iO theater and was a member of the improv trio 3Peat, before leaving Second City in 2017 to pursue stand-up. He relocated to Los Angeles and joined the writing staff for season seven of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he was the only Black writer.

In April 2018, 3Peat's sketch The Blackening was released on Comedy Central, and in January 2020 it was announced the sketch would be adapted into a full-length film, co-written with Tracy Oliver and directed by Tim Story. Starring Perkins alongside Antoinette Robertson, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji and Jay Pharoah, the film was released in theaters on Juneteenth weekend 2023 and grossed $17.7 million on a $5 million microbudget. In June 2020 Perkins posted a viral Twitter thread alleging institutional racism during his time at The Second City, after which co-owner Andrew Alexander resigned. He is also a recurring character in Seth Rogen's Apple TV+ comedy series The Studio. Perkins is gay.