Gina Yashere Biography – Age, Comedy, Movies and TV Shows

Nigerian-British comedian, Gina Obedapo Yashere was born on 6th April, 1974 in Bethnal Green, London. She was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1996 and may be best known for appearing in the comedy series The Lenny Henry Show, where she played Tanya and Mrs Omokorede, the pushy Mum.

Before becoming a comedian, Gina worked as a lift maintenance technician and engineer.
She has appeared in many television programmes. She voiced Keisha on the animated series Bromwell High. In 2005, she appeared in the reality television series, Comic Relief does Fame Academy, in aid of Comic Relief, and she co-hosted the 2006 and 2007 MOBO Awards alongside 2Baba and Coolio. She has made numerous appearances on Mock the Week, and appears on the CBBC show Gina’s Laughing Gear.

Gina was featured on the reality show Last Comic Standing in 2007, auditioning in Sydney, Australia. She was among the ten finalists, but on 1 August 2007, she and Dante were the first two finalists eliminated.

In 2008, she became the first Briton to perform on Def Comedy Jam. On 3 September 2009, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and performed a stand-up comedy routine. On 24 December that same year, she appeared on Live at the Apollo. She appeared twice on the short-lived prime time show: The Jay Leno Show.

Since 2010, Gina has appeared semi-regularly on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a sketch comedy series called Madame Yashere: The Surly Psychic. In the sketches, she continues to give fake psychic readings to unsuspecting people on the street. She also appeared as Flo in several episodes of the ITV drama Married Single Other. In April 2010 Gina’s one-hour comedy special, Skinny B*tch, premiered on Showtime, a US cable channel.


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She appeared on Watch TV show Scream If You Know the Answer in 2010 with contestant Emily Green from Portsmouth. She helped Emily win the show with prize fund of £2,000.

In 2013 Gina appeared in an advert for Tesco Mobile.
In 2015, Gina was featured as a selected comic on Gotham Comedy Live, which airs on AXS TV (season 4-Judah Friedlander). She also appeared on The Nasty Show with Artie Lange, which aired on Showtime on 8 January 2016.

Starting on March 16, 2017, Gina became the newest British Correspondent for The Daily Show.