Katherine Louisa Ryan is a Canadian comedian, writer, presenter, and actress based in the United Kingdom. She has appeared on many British panel shows including as a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats and guest appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, A League of Their Own, Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You?, QI, Just a Minute, Safeword, and Have I Got News for You. In 2015, she replaced Steve Jones as the presenter of Hair on BBC Two. As an actress, Ryan has appeared on numerous television series in the UK, including the sitcoms Campus and Episodes. As a stand-up comedian, Ryan has appeared on the BBC's Live at the Apollo, both as a featured act and as a lead act. She has had two live stand-up specials released on NetflixKatherine Ryan: In Trouble and .
Early life
Ryan's father, Finbar, is a draftsman and owner of an engineering company, who originally emigrated from Ireland to Canada. Her mother, Julie McCarthy is Canadian and owns an IT consulting company. Ryan and her two younger sisters were born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario. The three siblings spent time in Cork, Ireland, visiting their paternal grandparents. Her parents separated when she was a teenager. When she was 18 years old, she decided to leave home and chose to study city planning at the University of Toronto. While attending university, she worked at restaurant chainHooters and then began training other waitresses. She was fired from Hooters for writing "club sandwiches not seals" on the lunch board. In her spare time she undertook open mic nights as an alternative form of personal entertainment and by graduation had developed a basic comedic routine.
Career
After graduation, Ryan continued working for Hooters as a corporate trainer, travelling around Canada to train other waitresses, and helping to open the only UK branch in Nottingham. Her partner at the time wanted to explore London, so she agreed to do so for an initial month from summer 2007, moving there permanently from January 2008.
As a comedian
Ryan first appeared on television as herself in multiple episodes of the Canadian music video review show Video on Trial between season one in 2005 and her last appearance in 2008 in season 3. After relocating to England, she first appeared on Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats in 2012. She had previously appeared in the cast of Channel 4's Campus. On 23 February 2013, she appeared as a celebrity contestant on BBC One's Let's Dance for Comic Relief as Nicki Minaj dancing to "Starships". Ryan reached the final, and finished in fourth place. Ryan was later featured on the Whitney CummingsJust for Laughs 2013 Gala that was taped before a live audience on 28 July 2013. She has since taken new routines to the Edinburgh Festival. In 2015, Ryan replaced Steve Jones as the presenter of Hair on BBC Two. Also in 2015, Ryan became a panellist for Tinie Tempah's team on Sky 1's music/comedy panel showBring the Noise and on the ITV2 show, Safeword. In 2016, Ryan appeared on series 2 of Taskmaster. She beat Doc Brown, Joe Wilkinson, Richard Osman and Jon Richardson, to win the entire series. Ryan went on a comedy tour in 2016, called Kathbum, a name her toddler sister used to call her. In February 2017, Netflix released Katherine Ryan: In Trouble, featuring her stand-up comedylive performance at the Hammersmith Apollo! in London, during that tour. She joined Jimmy Carr in 2017, to host four series of the reboot of Your Face or Mine? In 2018, Ryan joined American comedy panel show, The Fix as a team captain. In July 2019, Netflix released her second live stand-up special, .
Actress
As an actress, Ryan has appeared on numerous television series in the UK, including the sitcoms Campus, Episodes and Badults.
Other work
Ryan wrote a weekly column in the British entertainment magazine NME. On 6 June 2014, YouTube comedy duo Jack and Dean released a music video for their song "Consent", featuring Ryan in an acting role. In 2016, Ryan provided the voice of the stuck up white, odd-eyed cat and leader of The Sunshine Circle for Cats Ranceford in Disney XD and Teletoon's animated television seriesCounterfeit Cat.
Recognition
For her comedy work, Ryan won the Nivea Funny Women Award. She was also runner-up in the Amused Moose Laugh-Off competition in 2008.
Personal life
Ryan has a daughter, Violet. She and her daughter live in Crouch End, London. In 2019, Ryan entered into a civil partnership with Bobby Kootstra. The ceremony took place in Denmark in presence of her daughter. She and Koostra had dated in Canada as teenagers and were reunited when Ryan returned to her hometown while filming an episode of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?. Ryan has been open about the cosmetic surgery she has had. She had a breast augmentation in her early 20s, and then a second augmentation after a relationship ended. She has faced two bouts of skin cancer.
