Maisie Adam


Maisie Adam is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor.

Early life

Maisie Adam grew up in Pannal, North Yorkshire, with her parents Phillip and Jill Adam, and her younger brother Daniel. At 14, she was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Adam's mother used to work in education and is the founder and Executive Director of the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester. Adam's maternal grandfather was Lawrence Byford, who led an inquiry into the failings of the hunt for the "Yorkshire Ripper". Adam attended St Aidan's Church of England High School in Harrogate where she was Head Girl. She trained with the National Youth Theatre in 2010 and 2012 and went on to study acting at the East 15 Acting School in Loughton. She graduated with a BA in Acting & Community Theatre in 2016.

Career

A trained actor, Adam initially planned on acting and writing professionally. She won a Laurence Marks Sitcom Writing Mentorship in 2015.

Stand-up comedy

After graduating, Adam did not have an agent and had difficulty finding acting jobs. She moved back in with her parents in Yorkshire and worked various temp jobs. This led her to try stand-up, with her first gig at the Ilkley Literature Festival fringe in October 2016. Her first one-hour show was called Living on the Edge. In 2017, Adam won the national contest So You Think You're Funny for new stand-up acts at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Winning the contest led to her getting signed with an agent.
Adam's first full-length Edinburgh solo show, Vague, was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. In that year, she won the Amused Moose National New Comic Award. Adam returned to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 with her show Hang Fire, which she took on a UK and European tour in 2019/2020.

Television

Following her first television appearance as a comedian on ITV 2's The Stand Up Sketch Show in February 2019, Adam has appeared on episodes of 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, QI, Have I Got News for You, and Roast Battle. In 2019, she was a writer on two episodes of Rob Beckett's Socials on Channel 4. As an actress, Adam has portrayed Siouxsie Sioux in a 2018 episode of Urban Myths, titled The Sex Pistols Vs. Bill Grundy.

Personal life

Adam lives in Brighton, East Sussex.