For the last 30 years, the Black Perspectives program at the Chicago International Film Festival has celebrated Black excellence, and this year, Marlon Wayans took center stage as the recipient of the Festival’s Career Achievement Award on Monday night, October 19, 2026.

Most people associate Marlon with comedy, but his work extends well beyond making people laugh. He sat down with his longtime friend and moderator for the evening, Omar Epps, to reflect on his career, faith, family, and friendships.

The atmosphere at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts on the University of Chicago campus was electric, with a crowd gathering long before Marlon and Omar hit the red carpet. Local celebrities and luminaries were in the house to celebrate a man with a vast body of work and plenty more he plans to conquer.

Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, was on hand, too. I couldn’t quite hear what he and Marlon were saying, but they were laughing and hugging it up. What a beautiful sight to see – Black male love.

That love was just as evident in Omar’s presence, there to support his longtime friend and guide the conversation a packed house had been waiting for.

Now, you know we couldn’t have New Yorkers Marlon and Omar in Chicago without a little fun and laughter. On the red carpet, I asked about the pizza wars between Chicago and New York, and both men defended their city while throwing a little shade at our deep-dish legend.

“First of all, y’all got some weird stuff going on with the deep dish pizza. We do regular flat pizza. You know what I mean? Just cheese, just cheese and old bread. That’s all. Y’all be doing deep dish. We don’t do that. We flatten it out. It’s our water. Our water good,” Marlon said.

Omar co-signed the sentiment, but he was a good sport, offering a small concession.

“You know, we’re always gonna be biased in the pizza debate, but the pizza’s great here though,” Epps remarked.

After the fun and games, I wanted to learn more about Marlon. He had described how his father taught him and his siblings to fish, using the expression to explain a lesson in self-reliance. I wanted to know whom he would thank for helping him reach this moment. Initially, he told me I would just have to hear his acceptance speech in the auditorium. Then he offered this:

“Yeah, I should thank my mother and my father. Thank you. And I should thank my teachers. I’m just always gonna tell you the first one I’m always gonna thank is God. God is everything, so if it wasn’t for God, none of this would be.”

When I asked about taking on so many roles as a writer, actor, and producer, he traced his work ethic back to watching his father provide for their family.

“My father woke up at 4:00 in the morning. He’d read his Bible, and he’d go, ‘How the hell am I gonna feed these kids today?’ 10 kids, no money, no job. Somehow, some way, in an honest way, he came home and fed his children. And I got that same work ethic,” Marlon said.

If one thing was clear from my interview and his conversation with Omar, faith and family are the foundation of his success.

And friendship – that friendship with Omar Epps might just be that third pillar.

“Well, as far as the love, we come from the mud for real, and when we form that bond of brotherhood, it’s family. When we push each other, and we admonish each other, when we need to keep each other on track, that’s what the brotherhood is about. The real, real brotherhood is about telling someone what they need to hear versus what they wanna hear,” Epps said with conviction and emotion.

Epps went on to speak about greatness overall, but it was clear he was making a direct tie to Marlon: “And in terms of the excellence, we strive to raise the bar, the standard, you know? We stand on the shoulders of the giants. So if you’re talking about the Sidney Poitiers, the Denzels, the Richard Pryors, the Cosbys (that part of Cosby), we come from greatness, so it is our duty to uphold that standard and continue the excellence that was bestowed upon us.”

For Marlon, that responsibility is rooted in family. I wanted to explore what it takes to work with so many siblings, and he didn’t miss a beat.

“We always hear my mother. My mother always wanted us to work together, and whether we liked it or not, she’d tell us, ‘That’s your brother. And now y’all keep arguing, I’ma make you kiss in the mouth.’ And we always hear that, and, you know, we try to honor that,” Marlon said.

“My parents are gone, but they’re not forgotten, and they’re watching from somewhere. So I ought to watch my behavior and always honor them with every step and every walk, especially when it comes to my family.”

Onstage, he expanded on that bond.

“Me and my family, we have this thing. We have a trust. We love each other. My mother taught us, ‘One of y’all fight, all fight. All y’all fight. And if you don’t fight, you gonna have to come home and fight me.’ She taught us that thing, as we stand by each other’s side.”

He recalled how that lesson carried into their working lives.

“And y’all don’t understand. When we went to California, we were a family. When Keenen left In Living Color because Fox was syndicating his show, there’s a very special Christmas episode, and we all left that show that day.”

Marlon never doubted that he would find work because that fishing mentality meant he would cast his own net.

“After In Living Color, after my brother left, when God closes one door, there’s a thousand others that open. Yeah. So when that show closed down, me and my brother sat there in his apartment, and Shawn was depressed during the time, but I was like, ‘We gotta do this, we gotta do this.’ He said, ‘Yo, what you doing, stupid?’ I said, ‘Here, I’m writing this show.’ And he looked at the screen, and it said, ‘Wayans Brothers.’”

That show led to many more opportunities, and Marlon wanted to make one thing clear: he chooses to do comedy, but he is an actor first.

“I was known for being funny. And I’m like, ‘Bro, I got a different skill set. I’m not just funny.’ Yeah. I went to LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, LAG. Yeah. I know how to act. I could do some drama. I choose to do comedy. To me, comedy’s actually harder than drama. In drama, you just gotta be still, and you get to deal with the things that really hurt you, in stillness. With comedy, I gotta take the things that hurt me, and I gotta go, ” What’s funny about it? And how do I make you laugh about the thing that broke me? That’s the beauty of comedy: I’m taking my worst, and I’m making y’all laugh with it.”

I did ask him about his acting roles, but as a sports enthusiast, I had to corner him about his own game. Given his performances in films like Above the Rim, The Sixth Man, and HIM, I wanted to know what he’s playing these days.

“I am 54. Black man, I am golfing. That’s the sport I’m doing, I’m golfing, and I suck, but you know what? I look good out there. I’ma smoke my Liga Tridente cigar,” he said, shouting out his signature brand. “And I’ma have me a good time. And stay out of trouble!”

Staying out of trouble might be the goal on the golf course, but onstage with Omar, Marlon made it clear that his comedy has never been about avoiding difficult subjects. Challenging boundaries, he explained, is part of the Wayans approach. While the laugh is important, so too is the intention behind the joke.

“We did it with In Living Color; we do it in the Wayans Brothers. We did it with Scary Movie. We do it all the time. This is our brand of humor. So when we do White Chicks, we’re equal opportunity offenders. Everybody’s gonna get it. It’s all-inclusive, and it’s all made with love because that’s a part of Wayans’ recipe. We don’t do hateful things. We do things with love. Yes!

“Our brand has always been dark leading to light.”

And Marlon Wayans is surely a light.

The room was lit, the conversation was illuminating, and the crowd left shining from ear to ear.