Raised in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, Wayans attended Wesleyan University on scholarship and wrote a book of short stories as her senior thesis. Following her older brothers, Keenen and Damon, to Hollywood in 1987, she soon began performing stand-up comedy at clubs like The Improv before landing a bit part in Robert Townsend's "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987). That same year, Wayans also played a recurring role as one of the collegians in the NBC sitcom "A Different World". For four years (1990-94), she was a member of the ensemble of the cutting edge variety series "In Living Color" (Fox), which was created by Keenen and also featured her brothers Damon, Shawn and Marlon. She offered parodies of pop culture figures like Oprah Winfrey and Whitney Houston and created original characters including Benita ("I ain't one to gossip, but ...") Butrell. Wayans had a recurring role on the NBC sitcom "In the House" (1995-96) and when the series moved to UPN in the fall of 1996 in a revamped format, she joined the cast as Tonia, a business partner of former professional athlete Marion Hill (LL Cool J). Wayans other big screen credits include brother Keenen's "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988), as a nightclub singer, and "A Low Down Dirty Shame" (1994).