Dave Chappelle Biography, Age, Family, Education, Career, Net Worth, Marriage

Who is Dave Chappelle?

Dave Chappelle (David Khari Webber Chappelle) is an American actor, producer, author, and stand-up comedian. He has received several accolades, inclusive of the Mark Twain Prize, three Grammy Awards, and five Emmy Awards. Dave is best recognized for Chappelle’s Show, his satirical comedy sketch series of 2003-2006.

He co-authored the series with Neal Brennan. They ran it together until Dave quit in the middle of the third season of production. Chappelle returned to stand-up comedy across the US after his quit from Chappelle’s Show. Esquire called Dave the America comic genius by 2006. Dave was ranked number 9 in the “50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time” by Rolling Stone in 2017.

Dave has made an appearance in several movies like Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), The Nutty Professor (1996), Con Air (1997), You’ve Got Mail (1998), Blue Streak (1999), Undercover Brother (2002), Chi-Raq (2015), and A Star Is Born (2018). He appeared as the leading character in Half Baked, the 1998 comedy film. The film was co-authored by Neal Brennan.

Chappelle signed a deal with Netflix in 2016 of a $20 million-per-release comedy-special deal. He has released 6 standup specials under that deal. In 1991, Chappelle converted to the Islamic religion. Dave’s biggest influences in comedy are Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Mort Sahl, Chris Rock, Paul Mooney, and Mel Blanc.

How Old Is Dave Chappelle?

Chappelle was born in Washington, D.C on 24th August 1973. He is 48 years of age as of 2021. Dave shares his birthday with celebrities like Beth Riesgraf, Chad Michael Murray, James D’Arcy, Jared Harris, Kevin Dunn, among others.

Dave Chappelle Family

Who Are Dave Chappelle’s Parents?

Dave was born to William David Chappelle III and Yvonne Seon. His dad was a vocal performance professor and the Antioch College dean of students in Ohio. Seon, his mother served Patrice Lumumba, Congolese Prime Minister. Additionally, she has been a university administrator and professor, and a Unitarian Universalist minister. Yvonne has worked at several institutions like Prince George’s Community College and Wright State University. Dave has a stepmother.

Does Dave Chappelle have Siblings?

Dave had two siblings, William S. Chappelle and Felicia Chappelle Jones, and a stepbrother.

Dave Chappelle Education

Chappelle grew up in Maryland and went to Woodlin Elementary School. Dave later attended Washington’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he studied theatre arts and graduated in 1991. He lived with his mother after his parents’ separation but visited his father in Ohio during the summertime.

Dave Chappelle Wife

Dave is a happily married man. He tied knots with his beloved wife Elaine Mendoza Erfe in 2001. The family resides on a 26 hectares farm around Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Does Dave Chappelle Have Children?

Chapelle is a happy father of three children. He is blessed with two sons, Sulayman and Ibrahim, and a daughter, Sanaa.

How Tall Is Dave Chappelle?

Adding to his well-built body, Dave stands at a height of 1.83 meters.

Dave Chappelle Career

Early Career

On 30th September 1990, Chappelle was featured in a montage telling a joke in the first episode of ABC’s America’s Funniest People. He moved to pursue a comics career in New York City. Dave acted at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater in front of the infamous “Amateur Night” audience but was booed off the stage. He honed “open mic”,
his craft on Monday night in addition to weekend stand-up gigs at Boston Comedy Club on W 3rd St.

Chappelle won popular and critical acclaim in 1992 for his appearance in Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam on HBO. This appearance grew his popularity and he became a regular guest on late-night television shows. He regularly appeared on shows like Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Politically Incorrect, The Late Show With David Letterman, and The Howard Stern Show. American actor Whoopi Goldberg nicknamed him “The Kid”.

Chappelle made his film debut at the age of 19 as “Ahchoo” in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He appeared three times on Star Search but lost to Lester Barrie. Dave was offered the role of Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue in Forrest Gump in the same year. He turned down the offer. Dave parodied the film in the 1997 short Bowl of Pork. In the film, a dim-witted black man is responsible for the LA riots and OJ Simpson is accused of the murder of the Rodney King beating.

In 1994, he played another role as a supporting character in an early Doug Liman film, Getting In. Chappelle was the opening act for R&B soul singer Aretha Franklin as early as 19.

Chappelle on ABC

Dave guest appeared on the sitcom Home Improvement, an ABC episode in 1995. The storyline made comedians Jim Breure and Chappelle ask for advice on their girlfriends to Tim Taylor. Due to the success of the episode, ABC gave the characters their own spin-off sitcom known as Buddies. Breuer was fired after taping a pilot episode and was replaced by Christopher Gartin. Buddies’ was canceled after they had produced 5 out of 13 episodes.

Chappelle appeared in another pilot as the star after the failure of Buddies. His dad died and he returned to Ohio and considered quitting the entertainment business.

1996 to 2000

In 1996, Dave appeared as a standup insult comic in The Nutty Professor starring Eddie Murphy. He additionally had a minor role in 1997’s Con Air. Dave did a stand-up comic performance at the beginning of 1998 for HBO Comedy Half-Hour. He also appeared in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show’s sixth season, “Pilots and Pens Lost,” in 1998.

Dave’s first starring role was in 1998 in the cult stoner film Half Baked which he co-authored with Neal Brennan. Half Baked was about cannabis-smoking friends trying to free their friends from jail. The comedy film remains a classic “stoner” film, a genre including recent fare like Judd Apatow’s Pineapple Express. Chappelle made an appearance as Tom Hanks’ confidant in You’ve Got Mail in December 1998. Dave appeared in Blue Streak, a Martin Lawrence film in 1999.

Chappelle recorded HBO special, Dave Chappelle: Killin’ Them Softly, in 2000 in Washington, D.C. He additionally starred along with Norm Macdonald in the 2000 comedy film Screwed. In 2002, Dave appeared as “Conspiracy Brother” in the racial satire Undercover Brother.

Dave’s Show

Chappelle started his weekly sketch comedy, Chappelle’s Show, in 2003 on Comedy Central. The show parodied American cultures like politics, racial stereotypes, and Pop culture. Dave promoted other black comedians’ work, Charlie Murphy and Paul Mooney.

Viacom, Comedy Central’s new parent company offered Dave a $55 million contract to continue his show production for two years. They additionally allowed him to carry on his side projects. It was reported in 2004 that Chappelle was in a dialogue to portray James in a biopic from Paramount Pictures, owned by Viacom. They didn’t come to an agreement and he ended the dialogue.

Dave recorded his second comedy special the very same month. It was airing on Showtime, Dave Chappelle: For What It’s Worth, at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Robin Williams, and George Carlin had also performed. Chappelle claimed that the popularity of the show was ruining his stand-up career in a June 2004 stand-up performance in Sacramento, California. He departed from the show, contaminating a $50 million contract with Comedy Central.

Dave produced and starred in the Dave Chappelle’s Block Party documentary directed by Michel Gondry. The documentary features musical artists like Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Dead Prez, Kanye West, The Roots, and Jill Scott performing in the concert and conversing off-stage.

Chappelle traveled to cities between February and March 2006 to promote the film “Block Party All-Stars Featuring Dave Chappelle”. The film was released on 3rd March 2006 by Rogue Pictures, Universal Pictures’ genre division. The film succeeded and earned a sum total of $11.7 million on a $3 million budget.

2005 to 2013

Chappelle acted impromptu stand-up shows in June 2005, in Los Angeles. He made a prearranged, surprise appearance at Towson University’s annual Tigerfest celebration on 11th May 2006. Dave appeared again on HBO’s Def Poetry, where he performed two poems, How I Got the Lead on Jeopardy! and Fuck Ashton Kutcher.
Chappelle disclosed his quitting reasons from Chappelle’s Show in an interview with Oprah Winfrey on 3rd February 2006.

Dave was interviewed on 18th December 2005, for Inside the Actors Studio at Pace University’s Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts. That show premiered on 12th February 2006. Dave had introduced Sly Stone musical tribute at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.

Chappelle singled out the “pixie sketch” encouraging people to reinforce their races’ stereotypes. Comedy Central aired The Lost Episodes, on 9th July 2006, Chappelle’s Show’s first episode. Anderson Cooper interviewed Chappelle on CNN after the release of the DVD.

Dave set a stand-up endurance record in April 2007 at the Laugh Factory Sunset Strip comedy club. The stand-up beat Dane Cook‘s record of three hours and 50 minutes. He broke a record of his own with a time of six hours and 12 minutes in December. Cook reclaimed the record in January 2008, with a time of seven hours. Dave performed in New York a four-hour set at Comic Strip Live in February 2009.

Dave performed at the Laugh Factory again on 19th November 2009. In August 2011, he appeared in San Francisco at Comedy Jam.

Chappelle reappeared on Inside the Actors Studio. He interviewed James Lipton in celebration of the show’s 200th episode. The episode was aired on 11th November 2008. Chappelle appeared on Inside the Actors Studio for its 250th episode in 2013.

2013 TO 2017

Dave returned to his full-time stand-up in August 2013 as a headliner. He co-headlined with comedy act Flight of the Conchords sponsored by Funny or Die.

Chappelle appeared in New York City in June 2014 after a period of 11 years. He performed at Radio City Music Hall for ten nights. Dave appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and Late Show with David Letterman, promoting the shows.

Dave appeared in 2015, in the Spike Lee film Chi-Raq, his first film role in a period of 13 years. Chappelle hosted Trump on Saturday Night Live on 12th November 2016, his hosting debut. The show featured a musical guest, A Tribe Called Quest.

Dave was honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, for his appearance. He donated the award to his former high school, filming an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee of Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix series.

Netflix announced the release of three new stand-up comedy specials on 21st November 2016 from Dave in 2017. He would be paid $20 million per special. On 21st March 2017, Netflix released the first two specials. Deep in the Heart of Texas was filmed in April 2015 at Austin City Limits Live. The Age of Spin was filmed in March 2016 at the Hollywood Palladium.

Equanimity, his third special, was filmed in September 2017 at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. On 20th November 2017, The Bird Revelation, the fourth film was filmed at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles by Dave. Netflix announced a deal expansion inclusive of The Bird Revelation on 22nd December 2017 which was released with Equanimity on 31st December.

Awards And Nominations

Chappelle received a Grammy Award at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in January 2018 for Best Comedy Album for his two 2017 first specials, The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas. Equanimity special received an Emmy Award in September 2018 for Outstanding Variety Special.

Dave returned to the big screen in October 2018 as Noodles”, Jackson Maine’s best friend and retired musician in Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, a remake of A Star Is Born. Chappelle was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast in a Motion Picture. Jon Stewart and Dave collaborated in 2018 for a duo comedy tour in the US and across the UK. Dave also joined forces with Aziz Ansari for three standup shows in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theater.

Dave won the Grammy Award in February 2019 for Best Comedy Album for Equanimity and Bird Revelation. He was chosen for the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor presented by The Kennedy Center. The ceremony was held at the Kennedy Center gala on October 27, 2019. The ceremony became broadcast on January 7, 2020, on PBS. Muriel Bowser, the Mayor of the District of Columbia declared the award day ceremony “Dave Chappelle Day” in Washington, D.C.

Leaders Bio – Stephen Baldwin Biography, Age, Family, Education,

Netflix released Chappelle’s fifth special Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones on 26th August 2019. The release garnered controversy and received backlash about abuse allegations against singers R. Kelly and Michael Jackson. Sticks & Stones won the Grammy Award in 2020 for Best Comedy Album.

The Covid19 Pandemic

Netflix released 8:46, a 27-minute and 20-second video on 12th June 2020 a new record stand-up by Chappelle on the YouTube channel “Netflix Is a Joke”. The event was held on 6th June 2020 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Dave touches on subsequent protests aiming at Candace Owens, Don Lemon, and Laura Ingraham.

Dave and friends performed Chappelle Summer Camp bringing live performance to a masked, socially distanced audience. The show featured performances from Donnell Rawlings, Mohammed Amer, and Michelle Wolf. The shows had frequent guests like Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, David Letterman, Bill Burr, Michael Che, Brian Regan, Chris Tucker, Kevin Hart, Ali Wong, Trevor Noah, Tiffany Haddish, and musical guests John Mayer, Common, among others.

There was an announcement about Chappelle returning to host Saturday Night Live the weekend of the 2020 United States presidential election. Dave joked in response to Biden’s victory over Trump.

Leaders Bio – Tawny Kitaen Biography, Age, Family, Education,

Chappelle joined Foo Fighters on 20th June 2021 onstage at Madison Square Garden to sing a cover version of Radiohead’s “Creep”. Chappelle starred his final Netflix special, The Closer, on 5th October 2021. The release was met with controversies over a joke. The joke was over DaBaby’s legal troubles and the squabble over his comments on the LGBTQ community.