Aniya Wayans: Everything You Need to Know About Damon Wayans Jr.’s Daughter

Aniya Wayans carries one of the most famous last names in American comedy. She is the younger daughter of actor and comedian Damon Wayans Jr. and the granddaughter of Damon Wayans, part of a family that has shaped television and film comedy for more than three decades.

Yet aniya wayans has not chased the spotlight in the usual way. She built a following on social media with fashion and lifestyle posts, kept her personal life fairly quiet, and in 2025 stepped into the family business in a behind the scenes role. This article covers the public record: her family, her upbringing, and what she is doing now.

Quick Facts

Who Is Aniya Wayans?

Aniya Wayans was born on September 30, 2004, in Los Angeles, California. She turned 22 in September 2026. Her parents are Damon Wayans Jr. and Aja Metoyer, who is known to television viewers from the reality series Basketball Wives. A few websites give a different birth year, but the September 30, 2004 date is the one carried by most profiles of her, and it matches the ages reported for her and her older sister.

Her parents’ story goes back a long way. By Aja Metoyer’s own account, she first met Damon Wayans Jr. when she was about 12 years old, and they later became a couple as young adults. They had two daughters together: Amara, born in 2002, and Aniya, born in 2004. The couple never married and later separated. Reports say the girls had primary custody with their mother while keeping a close relationship with their father.

Aniya grew up in Los Angeles, in the middle of a very large and very funny family. Details about her schooling have not been made public, and she has not discussed college in any confirmed interview. As with many young people from famous families, much of her everyday life stays off the record, and this article keeps it that way.

The Wayans Family Around Her

To understand Aniya’s world, it helps to understand the Wayans family. Her grandfather, Damon Wayans, rose to fame on the sketch show In Living Color, which his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans created, and later starred in My Wife and Kids and Lethal Weapon. Her great uncles and great aunt include Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, and Kim Wayans. Together, the family created or starred in the Scary Movie films, White Chicks, The Wayans Bros., and many other hits.

Her father, Damon Wayans Jr., built his own name rather than only using the family one. He is known as Brad Williams on Happy Endings, a role that earned him award nominations, and as Coach on New Girl. He voiced Wasabi in the animated film Big Hero 6, hosted the game show Raid the Cage, and in 2024 starred beside his own father in the CBS sitcom Poppa’s House.

Aniya’s family is also blended, on both sides. Her father married Samara Saraiva in 2016, and Aniya gained half-siblings through that marriage, including Berlyn and Maverick. Through her mother, she has a younger half-brother, Xavier, born in 2013. Family gatherings in this clan are, by all public accounts, large, loud, and full of jokes.

Social Media and Her Own Style

Like many people her age, Aniya first became visible to the wider public through social media. Profiles describe her as a social media personality who shares fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content on Instagram and TikTok. Her Instagram handle has been reported as aniya.wayanss. Her older sister Amara works as a model and social media personality, and the two sisters have appeared in each other’s posts over the years.

Her following is real but modest next to the huge accounts in her extended family. She has not launched a confirmed business, signed a public modeling deal, or given interviews about a career plan. Some biography sites attach a net worth to her name, but those figures are guesses based on her family and her follower counts. No reliable source confirms them, so they are not repeated here as facts.

What her accounts show, from what is public, is a young woman with a clear sense of style who enjoys the creative side of social media without turning her whole life into content. That balance is harder than it looks for someone born into a famous name, and she seems to manage it well.

Stepping Into the Family Business

In 2025, Aniya’s name appeared in television credits, in a way that fits her quiet style: behind the camera. Poppa’s House, the CBS sitcom starring her father and grandfather, was a true family production. Her great aunts Cara Mia and Kyla Wayans worked on the show, her sister Amara guest starred in the second to last episode as a character named Natalie, and Aniya worked behind the scenes.

Most notably, the story for the episode titled Babygirl was credited to Amara and Aniya Wayans, with the teleplay by Cara Mia and Kyla Wayans. In other words, four women from two generations of the family shaped one episode together. CBS canceled the series after one season in 2025, but that credit remains a real first step for Aniya in the industry her family helped build.

Whether she will write more, act, or return to focusing on social media is not yet known. She has made no public announcement about her next move. What the record shows is a young woman who, at 20, already had a professional writing credit on a network sitcom, earned inside the most supportive creative environment she could ask for: her own family.

A Private Side, By Choice

For someone with her last name, Aniya is notably careful about what she shares. She has given no long interviews, has no confirmed public statements about her education, and does not comment publicly on her parents’ past relationship. When her name has appeared in entertainment news, it has usually been through family events or, more recently, through her television credit, rather than through anything she promoted herself.

Readers should also know that the internet is full of filler about her. Some sites invent boyfriends, salaries, and life details with no source at all, and a few even print the wrong birth year. The facts that can be checked are the ones used in this article: her parents, her sister, her birth date as most profiles report it, her social media presence, and her work on Poppa’s House. Everything beyond that should be read with doubt unless Aniya herself says it.

There is also a wider point here about the third generation of famous families. Aniya’s grandfather’s generation fought for a place in Hollywood. Her father’s generation proved the name could travel further. Her generation gets to choose how public to be at all, and so far her choice looks balanced: visible enough to build her own name, private enough to keep her own life.

FAQs

How old is Aniya Wayans?

She was born on September 30, 2004, so she turned 22 in September 2026.

Who are Aniya Wayans’ parents?

Her father is actor and comedian Damon Wayans Jr. Her mother is Aja Metoyer, known from the reality series Basketball Wives. Her grandfather is comedy star Damon Wayans.

Does Aniya Wayans have siblings?

Yes. Her older sister is Amara Wayans. She also has half-siblings through her father’s marriage to Samara Saraiva and a younger half-brother, Xavier, through her mother.

What does Aniya Wayans do?

She posts fashion and lifestyle content on social media, and she worked behind the scenes on the CBS sitcom Poppa’s House, sharing a story credit with her sister Amara on the episode Babygirl.

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Final Thoughts

Aniya Wayans is a third generation member of a comedy dynasty, but her public story so far is her own. She grew up in Los Angeles between two households, built a social media presence around fashion and lifestyle, and quietly earned a writing credit on her father and grandfather’s sitcom.

For readers asking who aniya wayans is, the fair answer is this: a young woman with a famous name, a creative streak, and a long future in which to decide how much of the family business she wants. If the Wayans family history is any guide, whatever she chooses will probably involve making people smile.

Featured photo: Damon Wayans Jr. – photo by Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons