Issa Rae first became known for her Web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (2011–13) and her HBO television series Insecure (2016–21), both of which explore the experience of being a young Black woman in America.
Rae acted in several feature films, television shows, and music videos. For example, she portrayed Rachel in an all-Black version of the sitcom Friends in the music video for Jay-Z’s “Moonlight” (2017) and appeared in Drake’s “Nice for What” (2018). Movies include The Hate U Give (2018), Little (2019), The Photograph (2020), and The Lovebirds (2020). Rae also voiced a character in Hair Love (2019) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).