Nina Oyama | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 August 1993 Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Known for | Utopia , 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 .
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]
Oyama began performing stand-up comedy at 17 years old. [5] [6] 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, [7] 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. [8]
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, [9] 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. [10] [11]
As of 2019 [update] Oyama was regularly performing stand-up comedy. [12]
In 2020, she starred on the Network 10 sketch comedy series Kinne Tonight , [13] and served as a scriptwriter for Michael Cusack's Adult Swim series YOLO: Crystal Fantasy . [14] She co-directed the film Diving In, which starred an amputee swimmer and was featured in the 2020 Sydney Film Festival. [15] Also in that year, Oyama received media attention for making "#CatPoop" a trending topic on Twitter in Australia. [16]
On 9 July 2024, Deadloch was renewed for a second season and it was announced that Oyama would reprise the role of Abby Matsuda. [17] On 28 October, Oyama was named for the animated film The Pout Pout Fish. [18]
On 4 June 2025, Oyama was announced as part of the cast for the series Gnomes. [19]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Gnomes | ||
| 2025 | Claire Hooper's House Of Games [20] | Self | 5 episodes |
| 2025 | The Role of a Lifetime | Dr. Jesse | 2 episodes |
| 2023–present | Deadloch | Abby Matsuda | 8 episodes |
| 2023 | Home and Away | Slyvie Grey | 2 episodes |
| We Interrupt This Broadcast | Melissa Leong | 7 episodes | |
| Koala Man | Little Nina | 1 episode | |
| 2021 | 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 |
| 2017–2019, 2023 | Utopia | Courtney | 16 episodes |
| 2018 | Fresh Blood Pilot Season | Nina | 1 episode |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Soulless | Danni | Short |
| The Complex | Megan | Short | |
| TBA | The Pout Pout Fish | Pip | Film |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Spicks and Specks | 1 episode |
| 2021 | Question Everything | 1 episode |
| 2023 | Have You Been Paying Attention? | 1 episode |
| Taskmaster Australia | Season 1 contestant 10 episodes | |
| Would I Lie to You? | 1 episode | |
| 2024 | Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee (NZ) | 2 episodes |
| 2024 | Thank God You’re Here | 1 episode |
| 2025 | Claire Hooper’s House of Games | 5 episodes |
| 2025 | Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee (AU) | 1 episode |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Monologue | Writer | 2 episodes |
| Class of '07 | Developer | 8 episodes | |
| Koala Man | Writer | 1 episode | |
| 2022 | Latecomers [21] | 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 |