Nina Oyama
Born (1993-08-18) 18 August 1993
NationalityAustralian
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • writer
  • actress
  • director
Years active2012–present
Known forUtopia, Tonightly with Tom Ballard, The Angus Project

Nina Oyama (born 18 August 1993) is an Australian comedian, writer, actress and director. She is well known for her roles in Utopia, Taskmaster Australia, and Deadloch.

Early life and education

Oyama was born on 18 August 1993[1][2] to an Australian mother from Sydney's Northern Beaches and a Japanese father. Her parents met at a hostel in Nagoya.[3]

She attended North Sydney Girls High School,[4] and went on to study communications and theatre media at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, New South Wales.[5]

Career

Oyama began performing stand-up comedy at 17 years old.[5] In 2012, she was a state finalist in the Class Clowns competition. That year she also performed at The Sydney Fringe as part of "Barely Legal - Australia's Best Young Comedians" alongside Neel Kolhatkar and Aaron Chen,[6] and performed on Dan Ilic's FBi Radio show.[3] Oyama became a writer for the children's sketch comedy show You're Skitting Me, and made her television debut performing stand-up comedy on SBS 2 in 2014.[5]

In 2017, Oyama was cast as executive assistant/receptionist Courtney Kano in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of Utopia. In the same year, she joined the cast of ABC Comedy's topical entertainment show Tonightly with Tom Ballard as a writer; she also starred in the second and final series of the show in 2018.[7]

Oyama directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in The Angus Project, a web series and television pilot that aired on ABC iview in 2018. Based on real events in Bathurst,[8] the series co-stars Angus Thompson as a sports journalist with cerebral palsy, for whom Oyama becomes a friend and caregiver. The show received praise for its earnest depictions of disability and regional Australia.[9][10]

As of 2019 Oyama was regularly performing stand-up comedy.[11]

In 2020, she starred on the Network 10 sketch comedy series Kinne Tonight,[12] and served as a scriptwriter for Michael Cusack's Adult Swim series YOLO: Crystal Fantasy.[13] She co-directed the film Diving In, which starred an amputee swimmer and was featured in the 2020 Sydney Film Festival.[14] Also in that year, Oyama received media attention for making "#CatPoop" a trending topic on Twitter in Australia.[15]

Personal life

Oyama is bisexual.[3]

Filmography

TV/Film
Year Title Role Notes
2023 Have You Been Paying Attention? Self 1 episode
Taskmaster Australia Self 10 episodes
Would I Lie to You? Self 1 episode
Deadloch Abby Matsuda 8 episodes
Home and Away Slyvie Grey 2 episodes
We Interrupt This Broadcast Melissa Leong 7 episodes
Koala Man Little Nina 1 episode
2021 Question Everything Self 1 episode
Mikki vs The World Various Series 1
2020 The Chasers War on 2020 Various
Moments of Clarity Nat 5 episodes
Dom and Adrian Debbie TV Special
2019–2020 Kinne Tonight Various 13 episodes
2020 Soulless Danni Short
The Complex Megan Short
2017–2019, 2023 Utopia Courtney 16 episodes
2019 Spicks and Specks Self 1 episode
2018 Fresh Blood Pilot Season Nina 1 episode
Writer
Year Title Role Notes
2023 Monologue Writer 2 episodes
Class of '07 Developer 8 episodes
Koala Man Writer 1 episode
2022 Latecomers[16] Creator/Writer 6 episodes
2020 Diving In Writer Short
The Chaser's War on 2020 Writer
YOLO: Crystal Fantasy Writer 1 episode
2019 Squinters Additional Material 6 episodes
2018 Fresh Blood Pilot Season Writer 1 episode
2017–2018 Tonightly with Tom Ballard Writer 161 episodes
2013–2016 You're Skitting Me Additional Material 39 episodes
2016 The Chaser's Election Desk Additional Material 5 episodes

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ Oyama, Nina [@nina.oyama] (18 August 2021). "hey friends I'm 28 fkn years old today, but time has no meaning in lockdown so for showbiz purposes I actually identify as being '21' thanks (Shot ➡️ Set Up) ✨✨✨ @houstonsinclair 📸". Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2023 – via Instagram.
  2. ↑ Oyama, Nina (2 June 2021). "Nina Oyama: the funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet)". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 O'Brien, Kerrie (16 August 2019). "From podcast to Utopia: Comedian Nina Oyama discovers her 'funny bones'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. ↑ "'Frottage' with Nina Oyama". Were You Hot in High School? Podcast. Podbean.com. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 Burke, Kate (1 March 2014). "Stand up comedian to make TV debut". The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Barely Legal - Australia's Best Young Comedians @ The Laugh Garage". Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "ABC ditches Tonightly with Tom Ballard". ABC Online. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Bryce, Chloe (21 February 2019). "I met my future carer while drunk at a party and we made a show about it". ABC Online. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  9. ↑ Baldwin, Alistair (19 November 2018). "With 'The Angus Project', We Finally Have A Show That Gets Comedy And Disability Right". Junkee. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Angus Thompson and Nina Oyama: The Angus Project". Access2Arts. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  11. 1 2 Radojkovic, Mick (14 May 2019). "Nina Oyama @ Factory Theatre". The Music.
  12. ↑ "TV Guide: Kinne Tonight returns to 10 on May 25". Mediaweek. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Keast, Jackie (6 April 2020). "Adult Swim orders Princess Pictures' 'Yolo: Crystal Fantasy'". IF Magazine.
  14. ↑ Scholfield-Peters, Tess (12 June 2020). "Diving In, with Nina Oyama and Adam Bowes | Urban Village". Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  15. ↑ Earp, Joseph (17 June 2020). "To prove how easy it is to get things trending on twitter, this comedian sent cat poop viral". Junkee. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. ↑ https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/11/airdate-latecomers.html
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