Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, comedian-turned-actor DeRay Davis can most recently be "scene" starring opposite Taraji P. Henson’s “Cookie Lyons” as her go-to hitman/cousin “Jermel” in seasons 1 and 2 of the Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, creative collaboration, Empire on the FOX network.

Davis transformed his torridly rough upbringing, status as a working actor and fatherhood into a live show that stays fresh and ever changing according to whatever is happening in his daily life while he continues to develop and hone his streetwise mentality smoothly and efficiently onto the comedy-club circuit. He achieved his career breakthrough at the Laffapalooza Festival in Atlanta, GA, and then scored a 3-peat by winning the Comedy Central Laugh Riots Competition and landing covetable spots in the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival as well as the Budweiser Def Comedy Jam Competition.

From the Hood to Hollywood – nothing is off limits and no one is safe from DeRay’s hilarious, sidesplitting anecdotes. He continues to sell out venues both domestically and internationally.His highly anticipated 1st ever Netflix special “DeRay Davis: How to Act Black” smashed the cultural landscape on November 14, 2017 and was so popular it shut down the Netflix server TWICE! Davis is continuing to ascend. He can currently be seen on the FX hit, Snowfall.