Katy Brand | |
|---|---|
 Brand hosts the 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards | |
| Born | Katherine Frances Brand 1979 (age 44–45) Buckinghamshire, England |
| Alma mater | Keble College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, comedian, television writer |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Television | Big Ass Show Mongrels |
Katherine Frances Brand (born 13 January 1979), known as Katy Brand, is an English actress, comedian and writer, known for her ITV2 series Katy Brand's Big Ass Show [1] [2] and for Comedy Lab Slap on Channel 4.
Brand was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1979, and enjoyed making people laugh with her impressions as a young child. [3]
Brand attended St Clement Danes School in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire. Following a summer holiday at 13 with friends who were evangelical Christians she embraced their faith and attended church five times a week. [4]
Motivated to read theology at Keble College, Oxford, [5] [6] she then lost her religious beliefs while a student. [7] [3] Interviewed for the Evening Standard in 2007, she commented: "After about a year, I realised it was mostly rubbish and that things are never as simple as they seem when you are 13". [4]
While at Oxford, she started to write and perform comedy, musicals and serious plays, joining the Oxford Revue and the university's dramatic society. [3]
Brand won Celebrity Mastermind in an edition broadcast in May 2021.
After graduation, Brand did not work as a performer, gaining employment in television production for five years instead, [3] but her social encounters with university contemporaries ultimately convinced her to try working as a comedian. [8] In 2004 she wrote a comedy monologue, performing it in a few pubs in London before joining Ealing Live, a weekly live spot. [3]
Brand established her name with her solo stand-up act at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005. [3]
In 2008, she collaborated with Katherine Parkinson, one of her friends from university, [9] on a BBC Radio 4 series called Mouth Trap. [10]
Brand performed in Katy Brand's Big Ass Tour 2010. [11] She also competed on Let's Dance for Sport Relief in 2010, in which she danced to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". [12] Also in 2010, she made a guest appearance on the song "Stop Giving Me Verses" by The Hoosiers, which was an attempt to break the world record for the longest single ever released. [13]
In 2011, Brand took part in the BBC Learning project "Off By Heart Shakespeare", where she played the role of Titania from A Midsummer Night's Dream and delivered a performance of the speech "Out of this wood do not desire to go". [14]
In 2011 she guest-hosted a Children in Need special episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks , [15] and has participated in several other episodes of the show. [16] [17] In December 2012 she participated in the 2012 Christmas Special of the dance show, Strictly Come Dancing . Her partner was Anton du Beke; they came second to last. [18]
Brand presented the Penguin Podcast for Penguin Books until February 2021, [19] which included interviews with authors such as Michael Morpurgo (War Horse), Markus Zusak (The Book Thief) and Gabourey Sidibe. [20]
She published her debut novel, Brenda Monk is Funny, in 2014, a story about a woman trying to establish a career as a comedian. [3] Her debut play, 3Women, starring Anita Dobson opened at Trafalgar Studios 2 in May 2018 and is published by Samuel French. [20] Her latest book, I Carried a Watermelon, was published by HarperCollins Publishers in October 2019. [21]
In March 2020, she took the role of Miss Hedge in the West End musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie . [22]
As of February 2021 [update] , the comedy feature film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande , scripted by Brand, starring Emma Thompson and directed by Sophie Hyde, is in the pre-production stage. [23] [24] [25] [26] It has since been completed and aired on Hulu.
In 2008 she won "Best Female Newcomer" in the 2008 British Comedy Awards. [27] and was also nominated for a Royal Television Society Award the same year.
For Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Brand was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards: Best Independent Film and Best Screenplay. [28]
| Year | Project | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Comedy Lab: Slap (TV) | Channel 4 | |
| Tittybangbang (TV) | Various | BBC Three | |
| Hyperdrive (TV) | Alien 2 | BBC Two | |
| Casualty (TV) | Jill Grainger | BBC One | |
| Comedy Cuts (TV) | Various | ITV2 | |
| Under One Roof (TV) | Various | Writer, alongside James Bachman | |
| Touch Me, I'm Karen Taylor | Various | BBC Three | |
| 2007 | Peep Show (TV) | Lucy | Channel 4 |
| Katy Brand's Big Ass Show (TV) | Various | ITV2 | |
| Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive | Debbie | BBC Three | |
| 2008 | Headcases (TV) | Various | ITV |
| Placebo (TV) | BBC Three | ||
| 2009 | Good Arrows | Big Sheila | |
| 2010 | Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang | Miss Turvey | |
| Let's Dance for Sport Relief (TV) | Herself | Danced to "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé | |
| Argumental (TV) | Herself | Dave (TV Channel) | |
| The Bubble (TV) | Herself | BBC Two | |
| Mongrels (TV) | Kali (voice) | BBC Three | |
| Katy Brand vs... [29] | Herself | ITV2 | |
| Never Mind the Buzzcocks (TV) | Herself | BBC Two | |
| Ask Rhod Gilbert (TV) | Herself | BBC One | |
| 2011 | Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask | Herself | Dave |
| 2014 | Walking on Sunshine [30] | Lil | Vertigo Films |
| 2015 | Mapp & Lucia (TV) | Hermione Pillson | BBC One |
| 2016 | Hank Zipzer (TV) | Kathleen Murray | CBBC, one episode "Zipzers and Aliens" |
| 2019 | Pilgrimage: Road to Rome | Herself | BBC Two |
| 2019 | Midsomer Murders (TV) | Jemima Starling | ITV, one episode "The Miniature Murders " |
| 2020 | Paintball Massacre | ||
| 2025 | The Thursday Murder Club | — | Writer |
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