Dave Chappelle

Chappelle has been married to Elaine Mendoza Erfe since 2001. They have three children, sons Sulayman and Ibrahim and daughter Sanaa. The family moved to Ohio in 2006 and has maintained a low profile there, away from the Hollywood spotlight.

Sanaa acted alongside her father in A Star Is Born (2018), playing the daughter of Chappelle's character, Noodles. Chappelle has also discussed how fatherhood changed his approach to his professional life and described Ibrahim as the only one of his children to try stand-up comedy.

Chappelle began performing stand-up in nightclubs at age 14 while attending the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. After graduating in 1991, he moved to New York City to pursue comedy. His early appearances included HBO's Def Comedy Jam, late-night television programs, and the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), in which he played Ahchoo.

His early screen work also included the short-lived ABC sitcom Buddies (1996), The Nutty Professor (1996), Con Air (1997), and You've Got Mail (1998). Chappelle co-wrote Half Baked with Neal Brennan and starred in the 1998 comedy, which later developed a cult following. His first hour-long stand-up special, Killin' Them Softly, aired on HBO in 2000.

In 2003, Chappelle co-created, wrote, and starred in Chappelle's Show for Comedy Central. The sketch series used political and cultural satire to address race, politics, pop culture, and other subjects, often combining sketches with performances by hip-hop and rhythm and blues artists. Its Rick James sketch became one of the show's best-known features.

The first season was released on DVD in 2004 and became the best-selling television program in that format's history. Chappelle left during production of the third season in 2005 after expressing concerns about the show's direction, the pressure surrounding its success, and his creative control. He subsequently spent several years away from regular television work, while Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes was assembled from unfinished material.

Chappelle returned to national touring in 2013 after a period of sporadic club appearances. His 2005 documentary, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, followed a free concert he organized in Brooklyn with performances by artists including The Roots, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, and the Fugees. In 2014, he performed ten nights at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Netflix released The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas in 2017, followed by Equanimity and The Bird Revelation later that year. His subsequent specials included Sticks & Stones (2019), 8:46 (2020), The Closer (2021), What's in a Name? (2022), and The Dreamer (2023). Several of these recordings won Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album.

Chappelle returned to film with a role in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq (2015) and later played George 'Noodles' Stone in Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born (2018). He has also appeared as a host and performer on Saturday Night Live, including election-related opening monologues in 2016 and 2020.

His honors include multiple Grammy and Emmy Awards and the 2019 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center. Chappelle's comedy frequently addresses race and society through political commentary, observational humor, satire, and absurdism, a style that has made him one of the most prominent stand-up comedians of his generation.