Issa Rae

She rose to prominence on the YouTube original series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl between 2011 and 2013. The show won the 2012 Shorty Award for Best Web Show, Rae’s first career award. Rae later served as executive producer for the TV series The Choir from 2013 to 2015. Additionally, she was co-executive producer of First in 2014-15. She also appeared in the music videos for Pharrell Williams’ Happy (2013) and Jay-Z’s Moonlight (2017).

Rae is perhaps most notable for her leading role on HBO’s Insecure, which she also wrote and produced, from 2016 to 2021. She was nominated for three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Comedy or Musical for her performance in Insecure, in 2017, 2018, and 2022. She also received two Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, in 2018 and 2020. Additionally, Rae won three NAACP Image Awards for her work on Insecure. She won for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series in 2022 and Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in both 2021 and 2022.

She also executive produced HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, the first sketch comedy directed by, written by, and starring all black women. Rae received a nomination for the 2021 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Meanwhile, the series as a whole received two Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series (2021 and 2022).

Rae was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2022. The same year, she began executive producing the HBO comedy series Rap Sh*t. Rae also appears in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film Barbie. In 2025, she produced the theatrical buddy comedy One of Them Days. She plays a key role as a mentor and executive producer on Project Greenlight, in which up-and-coming directors compete for the chance to direct their own feature film. Rae not only serves as a mentor to the aspiring directors, but also the show’s producer, through her production company HOORAE.