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Jordan Peele was born!
Jordan Haworth Peele was born on February 21, 1929 in New York City and was raised by his mother on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. -
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Middle school
Jordan attended The Computer School, a public middle school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan before being promoted into high school. -
Dreams of becoming a director
After watching many movies such as Glory, Edward Scissorhands, Thelma Louise, and Aliens. He became inspired by these films and intrigued his interests in movies and directing. -
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High School
He attended The Calhoun School which was a private progressive high school in New York City. -
Graduation
After graduating high school Jordan got accepted to Sara Lawrence College in New York and decided to major in theatre. -
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College
He ended up studying theater and puppetry but eventually dropped out after about two years to pursue comedy. -
Comedy instead of College
Dropping out of college Jordan decided to pursue his career in comedy instead. -
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Full time comedy
After dropping out of college he then joined an improv company Boom Chicago, where he met his soon to be partner, Keegan‑Michael Key. -
Improv
Peele joined the Boom Chicago improv troupe in Amsterdam. -
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Cast member on sketch comedy show Mad TV
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Key & Peele Era
After massive popular from their sketches online, Peele and Key soon became well known comedians who were known to make funny content. -
Key and Peele
The two comedians released their comedy show which became an immediate hit and sparked major popularity and laughs -
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Comedy Awards
Ended up winning a Peabody Award (2013) and an Emmy for Outstanding Sketch Comedy (2015) -
Moving into directing horror
Jordan Peele began shifting away from comedy and toward horror during the later years of Key Peele. While he was still actively doing comedy at the time, he has said in interviews that the idea for Get Out had been on his mind for years, and that he was becoming more interested in telling deeper, darker stories. -
Last major acting project: Keanu
This was Peele’s last major acting project before turning his full focus to writing and directing. -
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Directing thought-provoking horror films with different studios
With movies such as Get out, Us, and Nope, Jordan has been busy during these years directing and writing these psychological thrillers with studios such as Universal, Netflix and Warner bros -
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Hollywood push for diversity and inclusion
All of Jordan Peele's film challenge the industry’s norms and became increasingly vocal and active in supporting Black creatives, hiring diverse casts and crews, and producing inclusive stories through Monkeypaw Productions -
Director Debut
He ended up making is directorial debut with the movie Get Out (2017), a horror/sci‑fi thriller with social commentary. -
Get Out
Directed, wrote and produced the movie brining in $255 million globally and won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay -
Married!
He got married to Chelsea Peretti where they ended up eloping. -
Fatherhood
Jordan and his wife welcomed their first child into the world named Beaumont Gino Peele -
TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People
TIME recognized Peele for revolutionizing horror and for using the genre to tell a deeply relevant social story about racism in America. -
Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
For his movie Get out, Peele was nominated and won for the Oscars. He was the first African-American to win in that category. This was a huge step in not only the African American community but for the horror community as well, establishing him as a leading director for horror films. -
Us
Directed, wrote and produced another creative mind provoking thriller that brought in $70 million opening night and breaking box office numbers for a horror film -
Monkeypaw Productions
He ended up signing an exclusive deal with Universal Pictures to produce films under his company Monkeypaw Productions. -
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COVID-19 Pandemic
Covid 19 caused major set backs for Peele, especially for his upcoming movie at the time Candyman. The pandemic effected how movies were changed forever. -
Nope
Another horror film directed, written and produced by Peele. Now working with popular actors such as Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun. -
Up coming projects
Peele is continuing his carrier and directing more horror movies such as Him which is coming out September 19, 2025