Jordan Peele

Jordan Haworth Peele Bio

Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker known for his film and television work in the comedy and horror genres. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Peele started his career in comedy before transitioning to writing and directing psychological horror with comedic elements. His directorial debut Get Out (2017) established him as a major voice in contemporary cinema, blending social commentary with genre storytelling.

Early Life and Background

Jordan Haworth Peele was born in New York City on February 21, 1979. His mother, Lucinda Williams, is white, from Maryland. His father, Hayward Peele Jr., who was African American and originally from North Carolina, died in 1999. Peele last saw his father when he was seven years old and was raised by his single mother on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Peele had been a cinephile ever since he was a young child and decided at age 12 that he wanted to be a film director. He states that the moment he realized he had a gift of some sort came at a camp he attended where he told a scary campfire story and realized his own fear had disappeared. With this new sense of power, he realized that if he created the horror, there was no reason to be scared of it.

He attended the Computer School in Manhattan and graduated from The Calhoun School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 1997 after securing a scholarship to attend the private school. He went on to Sarah Lawrence College, where he declared a major in puppetry. After two years, Peele dropped out to form a comedy duo with Sarah Lawrence classmate and future Key & Peele writer Rebecca Drysdale.

Path to Celebrity

Peele regularly performed at Boom Chicago, an English language improv troupe based in Amsterdam, and The Second City in Chicago where he trained with Keegan-Michael Key. In 2003, Peele joined the cast of Mad TV for its ninth season. Around the time Keegan-Michael Key joined the cast as a featured performer, the two of them ultimately were cast together after showing great comedic chemistry.

Peele performed celebrity impersonations on Mad TV, including Ja Rule, Flavor Flav, Montel Williams, Morgan Freeman, Seal, Timbaland, will.i.am, and Forest Whitaker. After five seasons on Mad TV, Peele left the cast at the end of the 13th season in 2008. This early television work provided him with valuable experience in comedy writing and performance.

In 2010, Peele co-starred in the Fox comedy pilot The Station and appeared with a recurring role in the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital. He had a supporting role in the David Wain-directed comedy Wanderlust, which was released in 2012. These projects helped establish Peele as a versatile performer capable of transitioning between sketch comedy and scripted acting roles.

Jordan Haworth Peele Career

Early Career (2002–2016)

Peele and his former Mad TV castmate and friend Keegan-Michael Key starred in their own Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, from 2012 to 2015. The series was a success with viewers and spawned several skits and videos that went viral online. Key & Peele was critically acclaimed, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. This success established Peele as a significant voice in sketch comedy.

In 2014, Peele played an FBI agent in the first season of the FX anthology series Fargo, inspired by the 1996 film of the same name. In 2016, Peele starred in and produced, with Key, the first feature film in which the two both had leading roles, Keanu. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics and demonstrated Peele’s ability to carry a feature film as a leading man.

Breakthrough (2017–present)

In February 2017, Peele’s first film as director, Get Out, was released to critical acclaim, eventually scoring a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film received universal acclaim for Peele’s screenplay and direction, as well as the performance of its lead, Daniel Kaluuya. Get Out was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time magazine as one of the top 10 films of the year.

Get Out proved to be popular with audiences and eventually became one of the most profitable horror films of 2017, grossing over $255 million on a budget of $4.5 million. For his work on the film, Peele received significant attention as well as numerous accolades. The film received four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay nominations for Peele, as well as a Best Actor nomination for Kaluuya.

Peele’s second film as director was Us, a horror-thriller film which he also wrote and produced, starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. The film was released in the United States on March 22, 2019, by Universal Pictures, Monkeypaw Productions, and QC Entertainment. Us further solidified Peele’s reputation as a filmmaker capable of blending horror with social commentary.

Notable Works and Milestones

In 2022, Peele released Nope, a science fiction horror film that continued his exploration of genre filmmaking with underlying social themes. Critics have frequently named Us, Nope, and in particular Get Out as among the best films of the 21st century. Peele also produced and co-wrote the 2021 sequel to Candyman through his Monkeypaw Productions. He founded the film and television production company Monkeypaw Productions in 2012.

Jordan Haworth Peele Award Nominations

Peele has been nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for Get Out (2017), and another Best Picture nomination for BlacKkKlansman (2018). He has also been nominated for two British Academy Film Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. His television work, particularly Key & Peele, earned him recognition from the television industry with multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Jordan Haworth Peele Awards Won

Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Get Out in 2018, becoming the first African American screenwriter to win in this category. He became the third person, after Warren Beatty and James L. Brooks, to be nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for a debut film, and the first black person to receive these nominations for any one film. Get Out also earned him the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Jordan Haworth Peele Family

Peele was born to Hayward Peele Jr. and Lucinda Williams. His father, Hayward Peele Jr., was African American and originally from North Carolina. He passed away in 1999. His mother, Lucinda Williams, is white from Maryland. Through his mother, Peele is descended from the colonial Woodhull family, whose members include Brigadier General Nathaniel Woodhull and Culper Ring Spy Abraham Woodhull.

Personal Life

Peele began dating Chelsea Peretti in 2013. They became engaged in November 2015, and Peretti announced in April 2016 that she and Peele had eloped. They have a son born in 2017. In early 2018, Peele announced his intention to retire from acting, stating in an interview with CBS that acting is just nowhere near as fun for him as directing.