Aisha Tyler

Early life

Tyler was born on September 18, 1970, in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Robin Gregory, a teacher, and James Tyler, a photographer. The family spent one year in Ethiopia and later spent time living in an ashram in Oakland, California. Her parents separated when she was ten years old, after which her father raised her. Her maternal great-grandfather was Thomas Montgomery Gregory, a dramatist and educator, and her great-great-grandfather was Howard University professor James Monroe Gregory.

She pursued an early interest in comedy at McAteer High School in San Francisco, which had a special program called School of the Arts, now named Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. Tyler attended high school with Sam Rockwell and Margaret Cho. She had a crush on Rockwell and followed him into acting class one day, leading to her interest in improv and sketch.

Tyler graduated from Dartmouth College in 1992. She was a member of The Tabard, a co-ed fraternity. At Dartmouth, she co-founded and sang in the Dartmouth Rockapellas, an all-female a cappella group devoted to spreading social awareness through song.

After briefly working for a San Francisco advertising firm, she toured the country pursuing a comedy career then moved to Los Angeles in 1996.

Career

Tyler's career in television took off in 2001 with jobs as the host of Talk Soup and the reality-dating series The 5th Wheel, although Talk Soup was canceled the following year and Tyler left The 5th Wheel in 2002 to pursue other interests. Tyler has devoted a significant amount of her time to independent projects, including a role in the play Moose Mating, for which she received an NAACP Image Award. She also wrote, directed, and starred in the independent short film The Whipper. Moving into acting, Tyler featured in Friends as Dr. Charlie Wheeler where she was Joey's and then Ross's girlfriend in the ninth and tenth seasons. She followed this up with guest spots on CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck, as well as balancing season-long recurring roles on both CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and 24 during the 2004–2005 television season. She also filmed her own talk show pilot for ABC and a sitcom pilot for CBS, neither of which was picked up. She has guest-starred on MADtv.

Following her regular role on the CBS series Ghost Whisperer during its first season, Tyler appeared in several films, including The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, .45, the comedy Balls of Fury and the Lifetime drama film For One Night alongside Raven-Symoné. In 2007, she filmed the thriller Death Sentence and the crime drama Black Water Transit. She also continues to appear on television, with appearances on Boston Legal, Reno 911!, The Boondocks, and as a guest film critic on several episodes of At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, filling in for the absent Roger Ebert while he recuperated from surgery.

Tyler has moved into print media as a regular contributor to Glamour, Jane, and Entertainment Weekly magazines. Her first book, Swerve: A Guide to the Sweet Life for Postmodern Girls, was released in January 2004. Tyler plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Futures Without Violence charity. She also made a guest appearance on Kanye West's single "Slow Jamz", which featured Twista and Jamie Foxx. Philanthropy and charity work are very important to Tyler, and she regularly does volunteer work for the American Red Cross, The Trust for Public Land, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the International Rescue Committee.

Tyler appeared in a nude pictorial, along with other celebrities, in the May 2006 issue of Allure. The annual Nude Issue raises money to combat skin cancer.

In May 2009, it was announced that ABC had given Tyler her own talk show pilot, The Aisha Tyler Show. In early May 2010, she presented the "Welcome to the Beta" video for Halo: Reach. She also voiced a minor character in the game.

In 2009, she began her starring role voicing Lana Kane in the FX series Archer, which premiered on January 14, 2010 and ran for a total of 14 seasons, ending in 2023. In August 2010, Tyler began appearing in a recurring guest spot on The Stephanie Miller Show. The segment is named "Tuesdays With Tyler". Tyler appears either in-studio or via phone when she is not otherwise committed to one of her acting roles. While Hal Sparks was out of the country, Tyler filled in as the third member of the Stephanie Miller Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour on three shows in August 2011.

Also in 2009, Tyler performed her stand-up comedy routine live at the Fillmore Theatre.

On July 26, 2011, Tyler premiered her own weekly podcast, Girl on Guy, where she interviews her favorite celebrity friends and discusses topics guys love. The show launched as the No. 4 comedy podcast on iTunes. The first weekly installment of Girl on Guy featured guest H. Jon Benjamin (her costar on Archer); the second featured the host of Current TV's former show InfoMania, Brett Erlich, on August 1, 2011; and the third featured Archer creator Adam Reed on August 9, 2011. She hosted the show until 2017.

In October 2011, it was announced that Tyler would join the cast of The Talk as a permanent co-host, replacing Holly Robinson Peete. Her first full week as a co-host was from October 24 through October 28, 2011. Tyler is known for being expressive and outspoken on The Talk, especially about African American culture and stereotypes, LGBT rights, and women's rights. Tyler presented Ubisoft's press conference at E3 2012 in June, which received some backlash from fans who didn't believe Tyler was a gamer. This caused Tyler to respond with a poem about how she has been playing video games "since you were a twinge in the left side of your daddy's underoos." She returned to host the publisher's press conference the following year. Tyler's second book, Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation, debuted in July 2013, later becoming a New York Times bestseller; it was inspired by questions asked of guests on Girl on Guy.

In March 2013, Tyler was confirmed to be the new host of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. She also appears briefly as herself in the video game Watch Dogs and is featured in the music video for the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Tacky". Tyler was also the original voice for the character Daisy Fitzroy in the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite, but her recordings were not used and the role went to Kimberly Brooks. She was nominated for Personality of 2014 in Golden Joystick Award 2014.

In June 2015, it was announced that Tyler landed a recurring role on the eleventh season of Criminal Minds as Dr. Tara Lewis. Although she served as a temporary replacement for Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was on maternity leave, her status was elevated to a main cast member in season 12.

In 2016, Tyler started a Kickstarter campaign to fund her directorial feature film debut, Axis. The film was shot over seven days in May 2016. Axis premiered at the 2017 Sarasota Film Festival and was an official selection at seven other major US festivals, winning Outstanding Achievement at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Axis was released via video-on-demand on April 10, 2018.

On the June 15, 2017, episode of The Talk, Tyler announced that she would be leaving the show at the end of the seventh season due to her busy schedule with three other television shows and directing films. She said she would return as a guest host and promote her various projects.

In 2023, she co-starred in the hit Apple TV+ limited series The Last Thing He Told Me, opposite Jennifer Garner.

Personal life

Tyler married attorney Jeff Tietjens in 1992 (sources differ). The pair separated in January 2015 and Tietjens filed for divorce in April 2016. The divorce was finalized in May 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web

Music videos

Director

Awards and nominations

Published works

References

References

1. (September 18, 2017). "Today in History".
2. Serpe, Gina. (October 24, 2011). "From Talk Soup to The Talk: Aisha Tyler Makes Her Morning-Show Debut!". [[E! News]].
3. Allen Johnson, G.. (April 13, 2023). "S.F. is 'the American Paris': Aisha Tyler on her hometown, and tossing out first pitch at Oracle Park".
4. (April 12, 2018). "Aisha Tyler Won 'Best Effort' At The Science Fair". YouTube.
5. Stated on ''[[Who Do You Think You Are? (American TV series). Who Do You Think You Are?]]'', April 3, 2016
6. (March 9, 2009). "Adam Carolla Podcast".
7. "In Bed With Joan - Episode 18: Aisha Tyler".
8. "Talk the Talk". CBS Watch!.
9. "Aisha Tyler '92 on the Power of Mistakes (Forbes)". Dartmouth College.
10. "Celebs in the Ivy League".
11. (November 24, 1995). "TONIGHT, TOMORROW WILL DECIDE WHO GETS LAST LAUGH". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
12. Tyler, Aisha N.. (August 30, 2017). "Contemporary Black Biography".
13. VanDerWerff, Emily Todd. (2018-06-15). "What Aisha Tyler learned from failing".
14. Piña, Christy. (2023-04-05). "Aisha Tyler Reflects on Her Time on 'Friends' Almost 20 Years After Her Character Was Introduced: "It Was a Big Deal"".
15. Avalos, Regina. (2016-07-16). "MADtv: New Whose Line Episodes to Lead In to CW July Premiere".
16. Tyler, Aisha. (2004). "Swerve: A Guide to the Sweet Life for Postmodern Girls". Plume.
17. (April 24, 2007). "Stars Line Up For Naked Spread".
18. Joyce Eng. (May 8, 2009). "Aisha Tyler Nabs Talk Show Pilot". TVGuide.com.
19. [https://twitter.com/aishatyler/status/9559941260 Off to voice a character in Halo:Reach tomorrow. Dreams really do come true] {{Webarchive. link. (March 12, 2016 , twitter.com, February 24, 2010.)
20. Eng, Joyce. (December 1, 2009). "FX Sets Midseason Schedule - Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com.
21. (April 6, 2020). "Archer: Season 11 Premiere of FXX Series Delayed".
22. (June 8, 2011). "Stephanie Miller Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour". Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Show on Tour Now -.
23. Evan Narcisse. (June 13, 2012). "Aisha Tyler Rants "I've Been a Gamer Since Before You Could Read."". kotaku.com.
24. (June 12, 2012). "Dear Gamers". facebook.com.
25. Goldberg, Lesley. (2014-04-01). "Aisha Tyler's 'Self-Inflicted Wounds' Headed for TV (Exclusive)".
26. Rachel Hansen. (February 28, 2013). "His line: Improv master Ryan Stiles returns to the PAC". wenatcheeworld.com.
27. Meredith Jacobs. (June 22, 2015). "'Criminal Minds' Season 11: Aisha Tyler will recur as Hotch looks to replace Kate".
28. (2016-08-10). "Aisha Tyler Promoted to Series Regular on 'Criminal Minds'".
29. [https://variety.com/2016/film/news/aisha-tyler-directing-debut-kickstarter-axis-1201752057/ "Aisha Tyler to make feature directing debut on Kiickstarter-funded Axis."] {{Webarchive. link. (September 20, 2022 "Variety", Retrieved January 16, 2017.)
30. Candice Frederick. (March 6, 2018). "'Axis' Director Aisha Tyler Is Proving Hollywood Doesn't Know Its Audience". VICE.
31. Matt Grobar. (January 25, 2018). "Aisha Tyler Shot 65 Pages A Day For Ambitious Directorial Debut, 'Axis' — Sundance Studio".
32. Tyler, Aisha. (April 10, 2018). "Aisha Tyler's Guide to Recovering From Disaster". Talkhouse.
33. Maureen Lee Lenker. (June 15, 2017). "Aisha Tyler leaving The Talk". Ew.com.
34. Hilary Lewis. (June 15, 2017). "Aisha Tyler Leaving CBS' 'The Talk'". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
35. Rankin, Seija. (2023-04-26). "Jennifer Garner and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Bonded Before 'The Last Thing He Told Me' by "Smelling Each Other"".
36. Lee, Esther. (April 15, 2016). "Aisha Tyler, Husband Jeff Tietjens to Divorce After More Than 20 Years of Marriage". [[Us Weekly]].
37. Boone, John. (April 18, 2016). "Aisha Tyler Opens Up About Divorce After 20 Years of Marriage: 'I'll Always Love Him'". [[Entertainment Tonight]].
38. (April 15, 2016). "''The Talk''{{'}}s Aisha Tyler and Husband Divorcing After More Than 20 Years of Marriage". [[People (magazine).
39. (May 18, 2017). "Aisha Tyler Ordered to Pay Ex Husband $2 Million in Divorce". [[TMZ.com]].
40. Eakin, Marah. (May 20, 2013). "Watch a new, Aisha Tyler-directed video about Silversun Pickups". A.V. Club.
41. (May 20, 2013). "Simmer (scroll down on page)". Silversun Pickups.
42. Teitelman, Bram. (August 29, 2013). "Clutch got Aisha Tyler to direct a video". Metal Insider.
43. Billboard Staff. (2003-06-18). "2003 Teen Choice Awards Nominees".
44. "January 2006{{!}} blackfilm.com {{!}} features {{!}} THE 37th NAACP IMAGE AWARDS NOMINATION RESULTS".
45. Empty. (2007-03-01). "2007 Image Award nominees and winners".
46. "2023 Black Reel TV Award Nominees".