Asha Ward | |
---|---|
Alma mater | Columbia College Chicago |
Occupation(s) | Comedian, writer |
Asha Ward is an American comedian and writer. In 2022, she became the youngest-ever writer on the staff of Saturday Night Live . [1] [2]
Ward, whose family is from Trinidad, [3] was raised in Maryland. [4] Her parents divorced when she was young. [4]
Ward became interested in performing comedy after taking an improv class at the age of 17. [3] She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in comedy writing and performance. [5] As many comedy venues in Chicago had shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, she left the city soon afterward, staying with relatives in Baltimore and Queens until she could afford to rent a room of her own in Brooklyn. [1]
Ward was working a day job as a receptionist and nights as a stand-up comedian when she got a meeting with Saturday Night Live cast member Ego Nwodim. Ward was hired to write for SNL in December 2022. [1] [2] In 2023, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. [5] [6]
In 2023, Ward was featured by the Just For Laughs comedy festival as one of their "New Faces of Comedy". [4] [7]
In March 2024, Ward appeared in a Netflix comedy special, Gender Agenda, hosted by Hannah Gadsby and also featuring fellow genderqueer comedians Jes Tom, Alok, Chloe Petts, DeAnne Smith, Krishna Istha, and Mx. Dahlia Belle. [8]
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