Issa Rae Bio
Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), known professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer who has become a significant force in contemporary entertainment. She gained widespread recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO comedy series Insecure (2016–2021), which earned her multiple Golden Globe Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Rae first garnered attention with her YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl (2011–2013) and expanded her influence through her production company Hoorae Media, founded in 2020. Her career spans television, film, literature, and digital media, with notable roles in films including The Hate U Give, Barbie, and American Fiction.
Early Life and Background
Jo-Issa Rae Diop was born in Los Angeles, California, to Abdoulaye Diop, a pediatrician and neonatologist originally from Senegal, and Delyna Marie Diop (née Hayward), a teacher from Louisiana. Her parents met in France while both were in school. She has four siblings, and her father maintains a medical practice in Inglewood, California. The family lived in Dakar, Senegal, during part of her childhood before settling in the United States.
Rae grew up primarily in Potomac, Maryland, where she participated in activities she described as outside typical cultural expectations, including swim team and street hockey. She attended Passover dinners with Jewish friends and was raised Catholic, following her mother’s faith. When Rae was in sixth grade, her family relocated to the affluent View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she attended a predominantly Black middle school.
Rae graduated from King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, where she discovered her passion for acting. Her parents divorced during her high school years. She attended Stanford University, graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in African and African-American Studies. While at Stanford, she created a mock reality series called Dorm Diaries, made music videos, and wrote and directed plays. It was also at Stanford that she met Tracy Oliver, who would later help produce Awkward Black Girl and star on the show.
Path to Actress
After graduating from Stanford, Rae received a theater fellowship at The Public Theater in New York City. She and Tracy Oliver enrolled in classes together at the New York Film Academy. Rae worked various odd jobs and considered pursuing business school or law school, but those plans changed when her YouTube web series gained unexpected popularity in 2011.
Her breakthrough came with the creation of Awkward Black Girl, a web series that premiered on YouTube in 2011. The show follows J (played by Rae) as she navigates uncomfortable situations with co-workers and love interests, told through first-person narration and dream sequences. The series went viral through word of mouth, blog posts, and social media, generating mainstream media attention. Rae and Tracy Oliver raised over $56,000 through Kickstarter to fund the rest of the first season, eventually releasing it on Rae’s YouTube channel in 2011.
Issa Rae Career
Early Career (2011–2015)
Following the success of Awkward Black Girl, Rae partnered with Pharrell Williams to premiere the second season of the series on his YouTube channel iamOTHER. In 2013, Awkward Black Girl won a Shorty Award for Best Web Show. Rae created the series because she felt Hollywood stereotypes of African-American women were limiting and unrelatable to her experiences.
By using YouTube as her platform, Rae maintained creative autonomy over her work, writing, filming, producing, and editing most content herself. She expanded her digital content with additional shows including Ratchet Piece Theater, The “F” Word, Roomieloverfriends, and The Choir, all focusing on African-American experiences often absent from mainstream media.
Breakthrough (2016–2021)
In 2013, Rae began developing a comedy series pilot with Larry Wilmore. The show, centered on the awkward experiences of a contemporary African-American woman, was eventually titled Insecure. HBO picked up the pilot in early 2015 and greenlit the series. Insecure premiered in 2016 and ran for five seasons, concluding in December 2021.
The series received critical acclaim for portraying the authentic lives of young Black professionals. Eric Deggans of NPR noted that Rae had produced “a series that feels revolutionary just by poking fun at the life of an average, twenty-something black woman.” In 2017, the American Film Institute selected Insecure as one of the top 10 Television Programs of the Year.
During Insecure’s run, Rae’s mother Delyna Diop appeared as a guest star in the first season, playing Rae’s character’s role model. The show’s success established Rae as a leading voice in television and led to numerous opportunities in film and media.
Notable Works and Milestones
Beyond Insecure, Rae expanded her filmography with diverse roles. She appeared in The Hate U Give (2018), a drama addressing social justice, and starred in the fantasy comedy Little (2019). Her other film credits include The Photograph (2020), a romance she starred in alongside LaKeith Stanfield; The Lovebirds (2020), a romantic comedy with Kumail Nanjiani; Vengeance (2022); and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). In 2023, she appeared in both Barbie and American Fiction, with the latter receiving significant critical acclaim.
Rae also pursued voice acting, contributing to Hair Love (2019), an animated short film, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), where she voiced Jess Drew / Spider-Woman. In 2015, she published her memoir The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, which became a New York Times bestseller. The book chronicles her life experiences and her struggle with not always feeling “Black enough.”
Issa Rae Award Nominations
Rae has received multiple award nominations throughout her career. She was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy in both 2017 and 2018 for her role in Insecure. She has also received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2017, 2018, and 2020 for her work on the same series.
Issa Rae Awards Won
Rae’s contributions to television and media have been recognized with prestigious awards. In 2018, she received the Peabody Trailblazer Award for her work on Insecure, with the award honoring the series for authentically capturing the lives of everyday young Black people in modern society.
| Award | Wins | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Peabody Trailblazer Award | 1 | 2018 |
| Shorty Award for Best Web Show | 1 | 2013 |
Issa Rae Family
Rae’s father is Abdoulaye Diop, a Senegalese-born pediatrician and neonatologist who practices medicine in Inglewood, California. Her mother is Delyna Marie Diop (née Hayward), originally from Louisiana. Rae is one of five children. Her parents divorced while she was in high school. The name Jo-Issa combines the names of her grandmothers, Joyce and Isseu, while her middle name Rae honors an aunt who was an artist.
Personal Life
Rae married Louis Diame, a Senegalese businessman, in a private ceremony in France in July 2021. The couple had been in a long-term relationship, and Rae first wore her engagement ring publicly on the cover of Essence magazine’s April 2019 issue. Rae is fluent in French, reflecting her cultural connections to Senegal and her international background.