Illia Wayans: the credits behind Shawn Wayans’ daughter
Ilia Wayans is a young American filmmaker and the middle child of comedian Shawn Wayans. She was born in Los Angeles on 10 August 2003 and turned 23 this month.
She is not a private person with no career, which is what at least one page ranking for her name claims. She has an IMDb page of her own with credits in the production department, as an actress and as a production designer, including work on a CBS network sitcom.
Illia Wayans: quick facts
| Detail | What’s documented |
|---|---|
| Credited name | Ilia Wayans, one L |
| Born | 10 August 2003, Los Angeles |
| Father | Shawn Wayans |
| Mother | Ursula Alberto |
| Siblings | Laila, born 1999, and Marlon, born 2006 |
| IMDb roles listed | Production department, actress, director |
| Known credits | Poppa’s House, Naive, Smoke Slow, The Goodnight Show |
| Public statements | None |
Ilia or Illia?
Her professional credit is Ilia, with one L. That is how IMDb lists her own page and how she is credited on screen.
Illia, with two Ls, is what people search, and it is also how IMDb spells her name in her father’s biography. So the platform everyone cites is inconsistent with itself.
This article uses the two-L spelling in the title because that is what brings people here. Everywhere else, Ilia.
Her credits, in order
Here is the working filmography, which almost nobody covering this name lays out.
| Year | Project | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Joshua Bassett: Smoke Slow | Actress, credited as Girl |
| 2022 | The Goodnight Show | Production designer |
| 2023 | Naive | Actress |
| 2024 | Poppa’s House | Production department |
Four credits across three years, in three different capacities. That is a normal early career for someone coming out of film school. It is also a more interesting thing to write about than a surname.
Note the spread. Acting, production design, and production department work are three separate crafts, and moving between them early is how people find out which one they want.
Smoke Slow
Her most visible on-screen appearance is in the music video for Joshua Bassett’s “Smoke Slow,” released in 2022, where she is credited as Girl. Bassett is best known from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, so the video reached an audience well outside her family’s.
Poppa’s House
The most notable credit is the newest. Poppa’s House is the CBS sitcom that premiered in 2024 starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr., her uncle and her cousin.
She worked on it in the production department rather than on camera. Working behind the scenes on a network show headlined by two relatives is a real job on a real production. It is the sort of detail a page about her ought to lead with.
The film school work
Reporting on her also points to a degree from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in film and television. The same source names a short film she wrote and directed, Me (and You), described as a 15-minute piece about a girl trying to keep her mother from returning to an abusive relationship.
[VERIFY: the NYU Tisch degree and the short film Me (and You) — these are attributed to a Tisch profile by one secondary source and I could not open the original]
A separate reference also credits her with writing and directing a short called Go Fish. Whether that is a second film or a confusion of titles is not clear from anything published.
Both point the same way, though. Her interests appear to sit behind the camera rather than in front of it, which is a departure in a family known for performing.
Her family
Shawn Wayans has three children with his former partner Ursula Alberto: Laila, born 1999, Ilia, born 2003, and Marlon, born 2006 and named after Shawn’s brother.
Shawn Wayans came up through In Living Color and went on to The Wayans Bros., Scary Movie and White Chicks, most of which he co-wrote as well as starred in. The wider family runs to ten siblings, including Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Kim Wayans and Marlon Wayans, and a large second generation working across film and television.
Her IMDb entry lists Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Kim Wayans and Diedra Wayans among her aunts and uncles.
What other pages get wrong
Two errors are worth naming because both are checkable in under a minute.
“No verified public career.” One page states in its summary table that no public career is available for her. The body repeats it, saying she has not built a career in acting, comedy or filmmaking based on verifiable information. She has an IMDb page with four credits. It takes one search to find.
“Dentistry student.” Another page lists her profession as a dentistry student. Nothing else anywhere supports it, and it sits alongside film credits from 2022, 2023 and 2024. The same page publishes her height, weight, hair colour, eye colour and religion, none of which she has ever discussed.
What isn’t verified about Illia Wayans
- Her NYU Tisch degree. Attributed to a university profile by one site. Worth confirming before repeating.
- The short films. Two different titles appear in two different places, with no overlap between the sources.
- A net worth. No figure exists for a 23-year-old at the start of her career, and any published number is invented for her net worth.
- Her height, weight and religion. Published by one profile page with no source of any kind.
- A dentistry or medical path. One page states it. Nothing supports it.
- Her social media. No account has been confirmed as hers.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Illia Wayans?
A young filmmaker and the daughter of comedian Shawn Wayans, credited professionally as Ilia Wayans.
How old is she?
She was born on 10 August 2003, so she turned 23 this month.
What has Ilia Wayans worked on?
Poppa’s House, Naive, Joshua Bassett’s “Smoke Slow” video, and The Goodnight Show as production designer.
Is she an actress?
She has acted in two music videos, but IMDb also lists her in the production department and as a director.
Who are her siblings?
Laila, born 1999, and Marlon, born 2006.
Who is her mother?
Ursula Alberto, Shawn Wayans’ former partner.
Is Ilia Wayans in Poppa’s House?
She worked on the show in the production department, not as a cast member.
Conclusion
The framing every other page reaches for is the private celebrity daughter who avoided the family business. The credits say otherwise.
She has acted in two videos, designed a set, and worked production on a network sitcom starring her uncle and her cousin, all before turning 23. She just did it behind the camera, where nobody was looking for her.
JacksonPadilla is a writer at Around Celebrities, covering celebrity families, relationships, biographies, and the stories behind the stars. With a focus on clear and engaging storytelling, Kole helps readers discover the people and connections beyond the spotlight.
