Jo-Issa Rae Diop[1] (born January 12, 1985),[2] credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer.[3][4] Founder of Hoorae Media, she achieved wider recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO television series Insecure (2016–2021), for which she was nominated for multiple Golden Globes Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.[5][6]
In 2007, Rae graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in African and African-American Studies. As a college student, she made music videos, wrote and directed plays, and created a mock reality series called Dorm Diaries for fun. At Stanford, Rae met Tracy Oliver, who helped produce Awkward Black Girl and starred on the show as Nina.[20]
After college, Rae received a theater fellowship at The Public Theater in New York City.[1] Oliver and Rae started taking classes together at the New York Film Academy. Rae worked odd jobs and at one point was struggling to decide between business school and law school, but abandoned both prospects when Awkward Black Girl gained wider popularity in 2011.[15]
Rae's web series Awkward Black Girl premiered on YouTube in 2011.[23] The show follows the life of J (played by Rae) as she interacts with co-workers and love interests who place her in uncomfortable situations. The story is told through a first-person narrative as J usually reveals how she feels about her circumstances through voice-over or dream sequence.
The series went viral through word of mouth, blog posts, and social media, resulting in mainstream media coverage and attention.[24][25][26] In an effort to fund the rest of the first season, Rae and producer Tracy Oliver decided to raise money for the series through Kickstarter. On August 11, 2011, they were awarded $56,269 from 1,960 donations and released the rest of season one on Rae's YouTube channel.[27]
Rae partnered with Pharrell and premiered season two of the series on his YouTube channel iamOTHER.[28] Rae began releasing other content on her original channel, predominantly created by and starring people of color.[29]
In 2013, Awkward Black Girl won a Shorty award for Best Web Show. Rae created Awkward Black Girl because she felt the Hollywood stereotypes of African-American women were limiting and she could not relate to them:
I've always had an issue with the [assumption] that people of color, and black people especially, aren't relatable. I know we are.[30]
By using YouTube as her forum, Rae was able to have autonomy of her work because she writes, films, produces, and edits most of her work. Rae's other shows—Ratchet Piece Theater, The "F" Word, Roomieloverfriends, and The Choir, among others—also focus on African-American experiences that are often not portrayed in the mainstream media.[31] Rae's YouTube series often imitate the production style of network television comedies, including "cut-away scenes" showing imagined behavior, similar to those seen in Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother.[32]
In 2013, Rae began working on a comedy series pilot with Larry Wilmore, in which she would star.[33] The series, about the awkward experiences of a contemporary African-American woman, was eventually titled Insecure. HBO picked up the pilot in early 2015 and it was subsequently greenlit.[34] Since its release in 2016, the series has received critical acclaim; Eric Deggans of NPR wrote that "Rae has produced a series that feels revolutionary just by poking fun at the life of an average, twenty-something black woman."[35]
In late 2016 Rae's mother, Delyna Diop, was featured in season 1, playing Rae's role model in her guest appearance.[36]
In 2018, at the 77th annual Peabody Awards, Insecure was honored for "creating a series that authentically captures the lives of everyday young, black people in modern society."[39]
On November 14, 2016, HBO renewed the show for a second season.[40] The second season premiered on July 23, 2017.[41] On August 8, 2017, it was announced that the show was renewed for a third season,[42] which premiered on August 12, 2018. Season five premiered October 24, 2021. The final episode of Insecure aired December 26, 2021.
Film work
Released in 2020, The Photograph follows the journey of Issa's character, Mae Morton, and LaKeith Stanfield's character Michael Block, as the two search for the backstory of Mae's mother. The New York Times said the film is "an unabashedly old-school love story".[43]Empire magazine said that "The Photograph is an African-American romance that, for the most part, feels relatable and true".[44]
Released in 2020, The Lovebirds directed by Michael Showalter, Rae played the role of Leilani. The film also starred Kumail Nanjiani, who played Jibran, Leilani's boyfriend. Throughout the film, the couple struggles to maintain their relationship and during this, they face an eventful murder.
Book
Rae's first book, a memoir titled The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, was released in 2015 and became a New York Times bestseller.[45] In the book, she chronicles her life through a series of humorous anecdotes and opens up about her personal struggle with not fitting in, and not being considered "black enough" at times.[16]
On October 11, 2019, Google announced that Rae would be an additional voice to the Google Assistant. Users could make Google Assistant speak in Rae's voice by saying "Ok Google, talk like Issa."[46] Issa's voice was available until Friday, October 1, 2021.[47]
Also in 2019, Rae, through her newly launched record label Raedio, partnered with Atlantic Records to produce "Kinda Love" by singer-rapper TeaMarrr.[48]
In March 2021, Rae's production company, Hoorae, signed a five-year film and television deal with WarnerMedia.[49] In 2021, Sweet Life: Los Angeles, a reality television program created by Rae, was produced as part of this deal.[50]
Rae's birth name, Jo-Issa, comes from a combination of the names of her grandmothers: Joyce and Isseu. Her middle name, Rae, is after an aunt, who was an artist.[20]
Rae married her longtime boyfriend, Louis Diame, a Senegalese businessman, in a private ceremony in France in July 2021.[52] Rae first wore her engagement ring publicly on the cover of Essence magazine's April 2019 issue.[52]
In May 2015, Rae appeared on the cover of Essence magazine's Game Changers issue, alongside Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay, Debbie Allen, and Mara Brock Akil. Rae expressed her desire for more people of color working in production behind the scenes to make a lasting impact in the television industry.[53] On the red carpet at the 2017 Emmy Awards, Rae told reporters, "I'm rooting for everybody Black." The quote went viral and appeared on T-shirts and in the song "Sue Me" by the rapper Wale.[54] Rae was also vocally supportive of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.[55]
Rae is an advocate for civil rights and women's rights movements. Her work includes themes of equality and social justice. She works closely with organizations like the ACLU, BLD PWR, and Black Lives Matter.[56] Rae has used her platform to bring attention to police violence and brutality against African-Americans. Following the police shooting of Alton Sterling in 2016, she raised $700,000 for the Sterling Family Trust to help pay for the Sterling children to attend college.[57]
Her show Insecure has changed the public perception of the South Los Angeles community by highlighting Black businesses.[58]
^Blair, Imani; Le, Monique (October 15, 2018). Modern HERstory : stories of women and nonbinary people rewriting history (First ed.). California. ISBN9780399582233. OCLC1019616770.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
