Today is the birthday of American stand-up comedian and actress WANDA SYKES. She is well known for her blunt observations on current events, the differences between the sexes and races, and life in general, as well as for her roles on The New Adventures of Old Christine, opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as Barb and on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, as herself.  She now hosts her own late night talk show on Fox

Sykes was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, to an Army colonel father who worked at the Pentagon and a banker mother, and was a graduate of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. In 2008, she made it known publicly that she is a Lesbian. She married her wife in California on October 25, 2008, prior to the passage of Proposition 8.