Actor, comedian, and writer, Lil Rel Howery has come a long way from doing stand-up comedy on the east side of Chicago. Milton Howery Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 17, 1979. Growing up on the West Side of Chicago, Howery attended Richard T. Crane High School. At the age of 13, Lil Rel stole a book entitled, Pryor Convictions: And other life sentences, written by comedian Richard Pryor, and mastered the art of comedy from staple comedians of Pryor’s era. Lil Rel chased his comedic dreams working comedy stages and promoting for clubs throughout his journey to reach stardom.
It was not until the success of his first television debut in the reality show competition, Last Comic Standing, that Lil Rel began receiving various acting offers. Showing himself to be unquestionably funny and simply a natural, Howery was presented the opportunity to be apart of Sean Combs’ late-night HBO series P. Diddy Presents the Bad Boys of Comedy, and Bill Bellamy’s: Who Got Jokes. Although these were small appearances, the exposure was tremendous and pushed him into the next phase of his career.
Howery’s most notable work includes his first exclusive solo stand-up special by Netflix entitled, Kevin Hart Presents: Lil Rel: RELevent, for streaming in the United States. In films, Howery has received the MTV Movie and TV Award in the Best Comedic Performance category for his performance as Rod in the film Get Out (2017). He went on to star in the post-apocalyptic Netflix Thriller, Birdbox, about an entity that takes the form of people’s worst fears.
Howery, now reaching the heights of Hollywood fame and fortune, spends his personal time with his two children Judah and Brittni.