Personal Info
- Country of residence: United States
Information
Maysoon Zayid is an American actress and comedian. Of Palestinian descent, she is known as one of America's first Muslim women comedians.
Zayid was born in New Jersey in 1974. She described herself in a BBC interview as "a Palestinian Muslim virgin with cerebral palsy, from New Jersey, who is an actress, comedian and activist". Zayid has been a resident of Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Zayid earned her BFA in acting from Arizona State University.
Zayid started her acting career by appearing on the popular soap opera As the World Turns for two years, as well as guests appearances on Law & Order, NBC Nightly News and ABC's 20/20.
During her early acting experiences, she found her disability and ethnicity repeatedly limiting to her advancement. Zayid then turned to stand-up and began appearing at New York's top clubs, including Caroline's, Gotham, and Stand Up NY, where she takes on serious topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
She co-founded the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival in 2003 with comedian Dean Obeidallah. It is held annually in New York City and showcases Arab-American comics, actors, playwrights and filmmakers.
In late 2006, Zayid debuted her one-woman show Little American Whore (LAW) at Los Angeles's Comedy Central stage; it was produced and directed by Kathy Najimy. In 2008, LAW's screenplay was chosen for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Production began with Zayid as the lead in the fall of 2009.
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Achievements and Awards
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