Maysoon Zayid

Maysoon Zayid is an actress, writer, and professional standup comedian. She received a BFA in Acting from Arizona State University. She is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival, now in its eighth year (www.arabcomedy.com). She is currently a full-time On Air Contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV.

Maysoon has appeared on Comedy Central's The Watch List, PBS's America at a Crossroads: Muslim Comics Stand Up, CNN, HBO, As The World Turns, Law & Order, MTV, NBC Nightly News, ABC's 20/20, BBC's The Doha Debates, and had a feature role in Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With the Zohan. As a professional comedian, Maysoon has performed in top New York clubs, and has toured extensively at home and abroad. She is a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour.

Maysoon's one-woman show, LAW, was produced and directed by the legendary Kathy Najimy, and debuted at LA's Comedy Central Space. Her screenplay, LAW, was chosen for the Sundance Middle Eastern Screenwriters Lab. Maysoon was a delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and is a graduate of the Hala Maksoud Leadership Training Program. She spends three months a year in Palestine, where she runs Maysoon's Kids, a scholarship and wellness program for disabled and wounded refugee children and orphans.

Maysoon Zayid