Tyler, who is of African American heritage, was born on September 18, 1970, in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Robin Gregory, a teacher, and James Tyler, a photographer.[3][4] The family spent one year in Ethiopia and later spent time living in an ashram in Oakland, California. Her parents separated when she was ten years old, after which her father raised her.[5] Her maternal great-grandfather was Thomas Montgomery Gregory, a dramatist and educator, and her great-great-grandfather was Howard University professor James Monroe Gregory.[6]
She pursued an early interest in comedy at McAteer High School in San Francisco, which had a special program called School of the Arts, now named Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts.[7] Tyler attended high school with Sam Rockwell and Margaret Cho. She had a crush on Rockwell and followed him into acting class one day, leading to her interest in improv and sketch.[8]
Tyler's career in television took off in 2001 with jobs as the host of Talk Soup[14] and the reality-dating series The 5th Wheel, although Talk Soup was canceled the following year and Tyler left The 5th Wheel in 2002 to pursue other interests. Tyler has devoted a significant amount of her time to independent projects, including a role in the play Moose Mating, for which she received an NAACP Image Award. She also wrote, directed, and starred in the independent short film The Whipper. Moving into acting, Tyler featured in Friends as Dr. Charlie Wheeler,[15]Joey's and then Ross's girlfriend, in the ninth and tenth seasons.[16] She followed this up with guest spots on CSI: Miami and Nip/Tuck, as well as balancing season-long recurring roles on both CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and 24 during the 2004–2005 television season. She also filmed her own talk show pilot for ABC and a sitcom pilot for CBS, neither of which was picked up. She has guest-starred on MADtv.[17]
Tyler appeared in a nude pictorial, along with other celebrities, in the May 2006 issue of Allure.[19] The annual Nude Issue raises money to combat skin cancer.
In May 2009, it was announced that ABC had given Tyler her own talk show pilot, The Aisha Tyler Show.[20] In early May 2010, she presented the "Welcome to the Beta" video for Halo: Reach. She also voiced a minor character in the game.[21]
In 2009, she began her starring role voicing Lana Kane in the FX series Archer, which premiered on January 14, 2010[22] and ran for a total of 14 seasons, ending in 2023.[23] In August 2010, Tyler began appearing in a recurring guest spot on The Stephanie Miller Show. The segment is named "Tuesdays With Tyler".[24] Tyler appears either in-studio or via phone when she is not otherwise committed to one of her acting roles. While Hal Sparks was out of the country, Tyler filled in as the third member of the Stephanie Miller Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour on three shows in August 2011.[25]
Also in 2009, Tyler performed her stand-up comedy routine live at the Fillmore Theatre.[26]
On July 26, 2011, Tyler premiered her own weekly podcast, Girl on Guy, where she interviews her favorite celebrity friends and discusses topics guys love. The show launched as the No. 4 comedy podcast on iTunes. The first weekly installment of Girl on Guy featured guest H. Jon Benjamin (her costar on Archer); the second featured the host of Current TV's former show InfoMania, Brett Erlich, on August 1, 2011; and the third featured Archer creator Adam Reed on August 9, 2011. She hosted the show until 2017.
In October 2011, it was announced that Tyler would join the cast of The Talk as a permanent co-host, replacing Holly Robinson Peete. Her first full week as a co-host was from October 24 through October 28, 2011.[2] Tyler is known for being expressive and outspoken on The Talk, especially about African American culture and stereotypes, LGBT rights, and women's rights. Tyler presented Ubisoft's press conference at E32012 in June, which received some backlash from fans who didn't believe Tyler was a gamer.[27] This caused Tyler to respond with a poem about how she has been playing video games "since you were a twinge in the left side of your daddy's underoos."[28] She returned to host the publisher's press conference the following year. Tyler's second book, Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation, debuted in July 2013, later becoming a New York Times bestseller; it was inspired by questions asked of guests on Girl on Guy.[29]
In June 2015, it was announced that Tyler landed a recurring role on the eleventh season of Criminal Minds as Dr. Tara Lewis.[15] Although she served as a temporary replacement for Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was on maternity leave,[32] her status was elevated to a main cast member in season 12.[33]
In 2016, Tyler started a Kickstarter campaign to fund her directorial feature film debut, Axis.[34] The film was shot over seven days in May 2016.[35][36]Axis premiered at the 2017 Sarasota Film Festival and was an official selection at seven other major US festivals, winning Outstanding Achievement at the Newport Beach Film Festival.[37]Axis was released via video-on-demand on April 10, 2018.[38]
On the June 15, 2017, episode of The Talk, Tyler announced that she would be leaving the show at the end of the seventh season due to her busy schedule with three other television shows and directing films. She said she would return as a guest host and promote her various projects.[39][40]
Tyler married attorney Jeff Tietjens in 1992[42][43] or 1994[44][45] (sources differ). The pair separated in January 2015 and Tietjens filed for divorce in April 2016.[44] The divorce was finalized in May 2017.[43]
^Empty; Empty; Press, The Associated (March 1, 2007). "2007 Image Award nominees and winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
^"Aisha Tyler". IMDb. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
