When Tiffany Haddish was a 9-year-old growing up in South-Central L.A., her childhood effectively ended when her mother was in a catastrophic car accident. The oldest of five children, Haddish, who's of Ethiopian Jewish descent, navigated her way through the foster-care system and homelessness, but eventually broke into the stand-up scene and made her way to Def Comedy Jam, Chelsea Lately and The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. She launched a successful acting career, too, landing roles on That's So Raven, My Name Is Earl and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but her career hit its stride when she was cast as a regular on NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show. This year, Haddish also appeared in Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele's debut film, Keanu, and stole the show at Just for Laughs Montreal's annual (and infamous) The Nasty Show. Next summer she'll appear with Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Regina Hall in the feature Girl Trip; she'll also be expanding her Chuckles Not Knuckles anti-bullying program in area high schools. Her star is on the rise and doesn't appear to be slowing down.

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