Katherine Ryan

Early life

Ryan's father, Finbar, is a draughtsman and owner of an engineering company who originally emigrated from Ireland to Canada. Her mother, Julie McCarthy, owns an IT consulting company. Ryan and her two younger sisters were born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario.

Ryan's parents separated when she was a teenager. When she was 18, she chose to study city planning at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) in Toronto. While attending university, she worked at restaurant chain Hooters, and she then began training other waitresses. In her spare time she performed at open mic nights for her own entertainment, and by graduation she had developed a basic comedy routine.

After graduation, Ryan continued working for Hooters as a corporate trainer, travelling around Canada to train other waitresses, and helping to open the then-only UK branch in Nottingham. Her partner at the time, Wade McElwain, wanted to explore London, so she agreed to do so for an initial month from summer 2007, moving there permanently from January 2008.

Career

Comedian

Ryan won the Funny Women award in 2008. Rachel Stubbings and Sara Pascoe were runners-up.

Ryan first appeared on television as herself in episodes of the Canadian music video review show Video on Trial between season one in 2005 and her last appearance in 2008 in season three. For her comedy work, she won the 2008 Funny Women Award and was described as "the funniest new female stand up in Britain" by a national newspaper. After relocating to the United Kingdom, 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. She was later featured on the Whitney Cummings Just 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 2013, Ryan was the subject of controversy over her participation on Mock the Week in the segment "Unlikely Lines From a Cosmetics Commercial", where one of her jokes was "We don't test any of our products on animals. We use Filipino children." Filipino groups held silent protests at the BBC office to demand an apology from her.

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 show Bring 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 season.

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 comedy live 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, Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room. In a 2021 interview, she was accused of racism by some viewers on social media when she attempted to encourage a female Sri Lankan designer by saying "You need to really back yourself. Do you know how confident a straight white man would be right now? Think about Boris Johnson, how pleased he'd be right now." The BBC responded that such a comment was in line with reasonable expectations of Ryan's humour. In February 2023, Ryan won the Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performance award at the 2023 National Comedy Awards for Backstage with Katherine Ryan.

Actress

As an actress, Ryan has appeared on numerous television series in the UK, including the sitcoms Campus, Episodes and Badults. Ryan starred in the Netflix comedy The Duchess, based on a single mother's life in London; she is credited as its writer, executive producer, and creator.

Ryan appeared in the eighteenth season finale of Murdoch Mysteries, "We Take Care of Our Own" (April 14, 2025), as Kiera Ryan, who is a woman ahead of her time, a stand up comedienne.

Other work

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 2015 and 2016, Ryan wrote a weekly column in the British entertainment magazine NME. In 2016 she featured in Disney XD and Teletoon's animated television series Counterfeit Cat, where she voiced Ranceford, the stuck-up, white, odd-eyed cat and leader of the Sunshine Circle for Cats.

In 2021, Ryan hosted the six-part reality competition All That Glitters: Britain's Next Jewellery Star on BBC2. Also in 2021 she presented the ITV2 dating show Ready to Mingle. Ryan released her debut memoir "The Audacity" in September 2021.

In November 2022, Ryan was the subject of an interview in the BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews... with Louis Theroux, during which she told Theroux about the "open secret" of an alleged sexual abuser who was a prominent TV personality.

In January 2023, Ryan appeared as "Pigeon" on the fourth series of The Masked Singer.

In early 2025, Ryan appeared as a judge on the fifth season of Canada's Got Talent.

On 19 June 2025, Ryan was announced as reunion host of The Real Housewives of London.

Personal life

Ryan was in a relationship with American comedian Alex Edelman, which ended in 2019.

Ryan gave birth to her first child, a daughter, at age 25.

In 2019, Ryan entered into a civil partnership with Bobby Kootstra. The two 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 and Kootstra have three children together: a son (born in June 2021) and two daughters (born in December 2022 and October 2025).

Ryan was diagnosed with stage II melanoma in her twenties; a mole on her leg was removed. In 2025, she was diagnosed with early melanoma and underwent a mole removal. Ryan was also diagnosed with lupus in 2008.

Filmography

Stand-up specials

Stand-up tours

References

References

1. (9 May 2014). "Katherine Ryan: Your questions answered". [[The Guardian]].
2. (5 January 2018). "@kathbum".
3. "Katherine Ryan - Who Do You Think You Are - "My daughter gives me a hard time about not being English. Well now I can tell her I am English – and from a castle no less..."".
4. (7 August 2014). "TV Katherine Ryan gives her cheating boyfriend a star role in new show". [[London Evening Standard]].
5. Dessau, Bruce. (2014-03-25). "New Interview: Katherine Ryan".
6. "Series 6, Episode 7".
7. Power, Ed. (2020-09-08). "Katherine Ryan on her Cork roots and new Netflix show The Duchess".
8. Harding, Oscar. (13 January 2013). "Exclusive interview with Katherine Ryan". What Culture.
9. Viv Groskop. (7 August 2014). "Meet the queen of confessional comedy: Katherine Ryan". Evening Standard.
10. Tripathi, Prizmi. (11 September 2020). "Is Katherine Ryan Married? Does She Have Kids?".
11. (2017-02-14). "Katherine Ryan: In Trouble". [[Netflix]].
12. Hayes, Martha. (30 March 2019). "'Anyone else would have kicked him out': celebrity flatmates reveal all". [[The Guardian]].
13. Chiu, Sheri. (10 May 2017). "interview {{!}} katherine ryan".
14. Bunbury, Stephanie. (2015-03-30). "Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Why Katherine Ryan owes her comedy career to Hooters". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
15. (2014-06-18). "The Bringer Of Spiders".
16. Colin Hunter, "Standup comedian Wade McElwain, a New Dundee native, loves open-mike shows. 'It's like war," he says. "You have to take bullets, keep fighting to survive.' And survive he does". ''[[Waterloo Region Record]]'', 22 December 2007.
17. Guide, British Comedy. (2016-04-18). "Funny Women Awards".
18. (4 May 2010). "Funny Women Awards head to Bath for talent show heat". BBC News.
19. Groskop, Viv. (7 August 2014). "Meet the queen of confessional comedy: Katherine Ryan". [[London Evening Standard]].
20. Duguay, Denise. (29 July 2013). "Just for Laughs closes with ... sex". [[Montreal Gazette]].
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22. (18 July 2013). "Filipinos in UK upset over 'racist' joke on BBC program". [[ABS-CBN News]].
23. Dessau, Bruce. (2015-06-04). "New Game Show For Katherine Ryan, Rick Edwards, David Morgan".
24. Lee, Ben. (11 March 2016). "Richard Osman will take on Katherine Ryan in Taskmaster". Digital Spy.
25. (2017-02-14). "Katherine Ryan: In Trouble". [[Netflix]].
26. Wicks, Amanda. "Katherine Ryan Doesn't Bite Her Tongue". pastemagazine.com.
27. McCarthy, Sean L.. (17 February 2017). "Cheeky Comedy Doesn't Get Katherine Ryan into Too Much 'Trouble' For Netflix".
28. Husband, Andrew. "Katherine Ryan Is Up For The Challenge Of Winning Over Her 'Glitter Room' Audience".
29. (2021-04-19). "BBC defend Katherine Ryan's 'straight white men' joke after fan backlash".
30. Mellor, Louisa. (12 April 2011). "Campus episode 2 review: The Culling Fields". Den of Geek.
31. (29 June 2011). "Channel 4 goes off Campus : News 2011". Chortle.
32. (1 February 2013). "Slipping makes her smile – Arts and Comedy". [[The News (Portsmouth).
33. Richardson, Jay. (5 February 2014). "Katherine Ryan joins Badults". [[Chortle]].
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35. (April 14, 2025). "We Take Care of Our Own". CBC/Radio-Canada.
36. Jack and Dean. (6 June 2014). "Consent – JACK AND DEAN".
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38. "All That Glitters: Britain's Next Jewellery Star Season 1".
39. Darvill, Josh. (28 August 2021). "Ready to Mingle: ITV2's new dating game show with a big twist".
40. "Bonnier Books UK lands comedian Katherine Ryan’s debut memoir in 10-publisher auction".
41. "BBC Two - Louis Theroux Interviews..., Series 1, Katherine Ryan".
42. (22 November 2022). "Katherine Ryan tells Louis Theroux about 'open secret' of alleged sexual abuser".
43. (22 November 2022). "Katherine Ryan claims prominent TV personality is "perpetrator of sexual assault"".
44. Vassell, Nicole. (29 January 2023). "The Masked Singer: Heavily pregnant Katherine Ryan revealed as Pigeon". [[The Independent]].
45. Campbell, Tina. (2024-10-29). "Katherine Ryan to 'embrace her inner Simon Cowell' as she joins panel on talent show".
46. (19 June 2025). "Katherine Ryan To Host 'The Real Housewives Of London' Reunion Special For Hayu".
47. Saunders, Tristram Fane. (2020-01-28). "Comedian Alex Edelman on antisemitism, millennials and being treated badly by the Baftas". The Telegraph.
48. (16 December 2022). "Katherine Ryan gives birth to third baby and shares unique name and first snaps". mirror.
49. "Why Katherine Ryan Chose A Civil Partnership Over Marriage".
50. Barr, Sabrina. (2019-12-13). "Katherine Ryan chose civil partnership as she 'didn't need to pretend to be a virgin'". [[The Independent]].
51. Green, Alex. (2021-06-14). "Katherine Ryan shares baby news two weeks after pregnancy announcement". [[Evening Standard]].
52. (2022-12-16). "Taskmaster's Katherine Ryan welcomes baby daughter - and shares sweet name".
53. Dooney, Emma. (21 July 2022). "Katherine Ryan reveals she's pregnant with third child at 39". Woman & Home.
54. (2025-06-04). "Katherine Ryan expecting fourth child".
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59. "All That Glitters - Meet the judges and jewellers of series two".
60. "Big Zuu's Big Eats".
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62. (26 December 2022). "Big Fat Quiz: Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2022".
63. (24 March 2022). "Katherine Ryan and Romesh Ranganathan star in Sky's Romantic Getaway".
64. (29 January 2023). "The Masked Singer: Heavily pregnant Katherine Ryan revealed as Pigeon".
65. "Katherine Ryan joins W for Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance (working title)".
66. "Stream Out of Order Season 1 instantly on NOW".
67. "Katherine Ryan and Joe Wilkinson to seek out the best bargain holidays for Channel 4".
68. (2 April 2024). "Cooking With The Stars returns to ITV1 and ITVX for 4th Series".
69. Raisbeck, Alex. "Kiefer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson in first look at new movie Tinsel Town {{!}} Radio Times".
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71. (2025-12-20). "When is The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2025 on TV? Air date, line-up". [[Radio Times]].
72. (8 November 2018). "Netflix orders a Katherine Ryan sitcom". Chortle.
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74. (11 January 2024). "Katherine Ryan: Missus on Sky Comedy". NowTV.
75. (3 January 2025). "Katherine Ryan: First Born Daughter".
76. (27 November 2025). "KKatherine Ryan announces new tour, Missus".
77. (27 November 2025). "Katherine Ryan: Battleaxe".