Wayans had appeared in several national commercials before he spent three years as a regular on the sketch comedy series "In Living Color" (Fox, 1990-93), which also featured brothers Keenen, Damon and Shawn and sister Kim. The actor almost got a major Hollywood break when he was cast as a Robin-like character in the hugely anticipated sequel "Batman Returns" (1992), but his sequences as a modern-day sidekick to the Dark Knight ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. He and brother Shawn later teamed as co-writers and co-stars of the feature spoof "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" (1996) and as co-creators and co-stars of the sitcom "The Wayans Bros." (The WB, 1995-99). The duo truly hit pay dirt, though, with "Scary Movie" (2000), their scatological spoof of teen horror flicks, directed by brother Keenen--the comic later reprised his role as the pot-loving Shorty Meeks for the similarly successful 2001 sequel (he received a share of story and screenplay credit as well). Also in 2000 Wayans demonstrated his dramatic range as a drug addict pal of Jared Leto's in the harrowing "Requiem for a Dream" and took on an action-oriented role for the fantasy film "Dungeons and Dragons."

The Coen brothers cast Wayans in their decidedly loopy remake of the classic British comedy "The Ladykillers" (2004), and, playing a hot-tempered would-be thief, the actor ably held his own on the screen against heavyweight Tom Hanks and a cast of journeyman supporting players. Wayans rejoined with his family for 2004's "White Chicks," directed by elder brother Keenan and co-starring Shawn: the two siblings played a pair of FBI agents forced to masquerade as a pair of spoiled white blonde heiress a la the Hilton Sisters. Marlon also received a share of story and screenplay credit on the film.