Aisha Tyler was born on September 18, 1970, in San Francisco, and was raised largely by her father. She attended McAteer High School’s arts program, where a crush on classmate Sam Rockwell led her into acting classes. Tyler graduated from Dartmouth College in 1992 with a degree in political science. While in college, she co-founded the Dartmouth Rockapellas a cappella group. She then moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to pursue comedy full-time.
Tyler’s TV career took off in 2001 when she became the first Black woman to host E!’s Talk Soup. She built a busy acting résumé through the 2000s, with recurring roles on Friends, CSI, and Ghost Whisperer. In 2011, Tyler joined CBS’s The Talk as a co-host, a role she held for six seasons. The Talk’s hosts won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host in 2017, shortly before Tyler left.
Tyler has hosted The CW’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? since the revival premiered in July 2013. She continues voicing Lana Kane on Archer and plays Dr. Tara Lewis on Criminal Minds: Evolution. Production on Whose Line has been on hiatus since its 2024 season, with no new episodes confirmed.
