Most people know the Wayans name from television and film. But fewer know the woman at the center of it all — Elvira Alethia Green Wayans, who raised ten children in New York City and never once sought the spotlight for herself.
She was not a performer. She did not appear on screen. But without her, there would be no Wayans dynasty. This article covers who Elvira Alethia was, where she came from, her marriage, her ten children, and the quiet but lasting influence she had on one of Hollywood’s most recognized comedy families.
Who Was Elvira Alethia?
Her full name was Elvira Alethia Green. After her marriage, she became Elvira Alethia Wayans. She was born on July 23, 1938, in Manhattan, New York City. She passed away in 2020 at the age of 81, also in New York.
She was not an entertainer. She never pursued fame. Everything most people know about her comes from her connection to her children and what has been documented in genealogical records and family biographies.
One thing worth clarifying: Elvira Alethia is sometimes confused with her daughter, Elvira Wayans, who was born in 1964 and works as a screenwriter. They share a name, but they are two different people. Elvira Alethia is the mother. Her daughter Elvira is one of her ten children.
Her Family of Origin and Ancestry
Elvira Alethia was born to Ivory Garrett Green and Elvira Brown, also known as Elvira Green née Brown. Her paternal grandparents are listed in genealogical records as Powell Green and Mary Magdalene Brock.
Her heritage is described as African-American, with roots in New York. Sources like WikiTree, MyHeritage, and Geni have documented her family line, giving genealogy researchers a clear picture of the Green-Wayans family tree.
Beyond these documented facts, her personal history before marriage is not widely recorded. There are no known memoirs or detailed personal accounts from her early years. What we know comes from genealogical platforms and family biographies, and that framing is worth keeping honest.
Her Marriage to Howell Wayans and Life in New York
In 1957, Elvira Alethia Green married Howell Stouten Wayans in New York. Howell, who was born in 1936, worked as a supermarket manager. Elvira is described in family biographies as a homemaker and social worker.
The couple settled in Chelsea, New York City in the early years of their family life. Together, they raised ten children — five sons and five daughters — in a household guided by their faith as Jehovah’s Witnesses. That religious upbringing shaped the values and discipline their children carried into their careers.
Their marriage lasted until Elvira’s death in 2020. Howell passed away three years later, in April 2023, at the age of 86. Multiple entertainment outlets covered his passing and noted the couple’s lasting legacy: ten children, many of whom became household names in American comedy.
It is a remarkable story in its own right. Two working-class parents in New York City — a supermarket manager and a homemaker — raised one of the most prolific entertainment families in Hollywood history.
The Ten Children of Elvira Alethia and Howell Wayans
Elvira and Howell had ten children together. Five sons. Five daughters. Several of them went on to careers in entertainment, making the Wayans name one of the most recognized in American comedy.
The Children in Entertainment
Dwayne Howell Otis Wayans (born August 22, 1956 – died 2000) was the eldest child. He worked as a writer and composer before his death at age 43. Though less publicly known than some of his siblings, he was a foundational part of the family’s creative circle.
Keenen Ivory Wayans (born 1958) is perhaps the most influential figure in the family’s entertainment career. He is a comedian, actor, writer, and director, best known for creating In Living Color, the groundbreaking sketch comedy show that launched multiple careers in the early 1990s.
Damon Wayans Sr. is a comedian and actor who became one of the most recognized faces in American comedy. He appeared on In Living Color and went on to star in his own television series.
Kim Wayans is an actress and producer who also appeared on In Living Color. She has built a steady career in television and film over several decades.
Shawn Wayans is an actor and comedian known for his work alongside his brother Marlon in films like the Scary Movie franchise and the television series The Wayans Bros.
Marlon Wayans is the youngest of the five sons and has become one of the most active members of the family in modern entertainment. He is an actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a long list of film and television credits. He is also the Wayans sibling most often referenced in articles about Elvira Alethia, frequently identified as “Marlon Wayans’ mother” in celebrity profiles about her.
The Other Children
The five daughters complete the picture of the family Elvira and Howell built. They are Diedra, Elvira, Nadia, and Devonne (also known as Vonnie), along with Kim, who is listed among the entertainers above.
Elvira Wayans, the daughter who shares her mother’s name, has worked as a screenwriter. The others have maintained lower public profiles, which is entirely consistent with a family that produced entertainers alongside siblings who chose private lives.
Her Role and Lasting Influence
Elvira Alethia never sought recognition. She raised ten children in New York, worked as a social worker, and built a stable family home grounded in faith and discipline. That was her life’s work, and by most accounts, it was consequential.
The Wayans siblings have spoken publicly over the years about the importance of their upbringing. The structure of their household, the values their parents instilled, and the close-knit nature of the family are often credited as reasons so many of them found success together rather than separately.
It is not common for ten siblings to collaborate professionally on the scale the Wayans family has. That kind of cohesion usually starts at home. For the Wayans family, home meant Elvira Alethia and Howell Wayans in Chelsea, New York.
For readers interested in entertainment families and the stories behind famous names, resources like First Business Point offer useful coverage of the people and contexts that shape popular culture.
Elvira Alethia is also a reminder of something easy to overlook in celebrity culture: the most important figures in a famous person’s story are not always the ones in front of the camera. She appears in no film credits. She gave no interviews that made the press. Yet her name shows up on genealogy platforms, in family biographies, and in profiles of every one of her children.
A Private Woman, a Public Legacy
There are no known lengthy interviews with Elvira Alethia. No memoirs. No detailed first-person accounts of what it was like to raise ten children in New York City, or to watch them become some of the most recognizable names in comedy.
What exists is a clear paper trail of a life lived purposefully and quietly. Birth records placing her in Manhattan in 1938. Marriage records from 1957. Ten children documented across genealogical databases and Wikipedia entries. A death recorded in 2020, followed three years later by the death of her husband.
That is the factual record of Elvira Alethia Green Wayans. It is not a glamorous one by Hollywood standards. But it is the foundation on which a remarkable family was built.
She was a matriarch in the truest sense — not famous herself, but absolutely central to the story of people who are. The Wayans name belongs to many people now. But it started with her.
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