Nina Conti
Nina Conti has won a British Comedy Award for storming 'Live at the Apollo', 'Russell Howard's Good News', 'Sunday Night at the Palladium', and made a BAFTA nominated film - all without even moving her lips.
Nina began her career as an actress at the Royal Shakespeare Company before the genius, and anarchic theatre director Ken Campbell inspired her to become a ventriloquist.
Nina Conti recently enjoyed the world premiere of her narrative film directorial debut Sunlight, which played to numerous screenings and rave reviews at the relaunched Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2024.
The film co-stars and was co-written with Shenoah Allen, of the Pyjama Men duo, and is executive produced by This Is Spinal Tap creator Christopher Guest. Set in Allen’s home town of Albuquerque, New Mexico, the plot has been inspired by Conti’s work with her Monkey puppet. She plays Jane, who creates a new persona when she disappears into a monkey costume. She strives to break free from a toxic relationship when she encounters a suicidal radio show host, Roy (Allen), who ‘presents a path to freedom’. The film is a darkly funny and unconventional love story between a man and a woman who doesn’t want to come out of a monkey suit.
Earlier that year, Sunlight featured as part of the BFI and British Council’s annual ‘GREAT 8’ showcase at Cannes, which presents new feature films from the UK’s most exciting first and second-time filmmakers to international distributors and festival programmers.
In 2008 she won the prestigious Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for her solo show Complete and Utter Conti. In 2010, Talk to the Hand had sell-out seasons in Edinburgh, London, Melbourne, the Sydney Opera House and New York.
Other television credits include QI, The John Bishop Show and Chris O'Dowd's HBO series Family Tree. She was also a regular in Clare and the Community – the Sony award-winning show on BBC Radio 4.
Nina has also done documentary film-making with her most recent exploit, Clowning Around (in which she trained as a children's hospital clown), airing to great critical acclaim. Her directorial debut, Her Master's Voice in which she took the bereaved puppets of her mentor, Ken Campbell, to a puppet graveyard in Kentucky, won her a BAFTA nomination and a Grierson Award.
More recently, Nina starred as Moira in the new Spinal Tap film, Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues, released in cinemas in 2025.
She will be touring the UK in 2025 with her critically acclaimed show Whose Face Is It Anyway? following it’s debut at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
Other
| In Your Face UK Tour / Edinburgh Fringe Festival / Melbourne International Comedy Festival / Soho Theatre | Writer / Performer | 2015-01-01 |
| Peacock Season | Artist | 2009-01-01 |
| BBC Comedy Awards | Host | 2019-01-01 |
| Pointless BBC | Celebrity Guest | 2021-01-01 |
| You And Yours Radio 4 | Guest | 2003-01-01 |
| Sneekiepeeks Radio 4 | Sharla | 2010-01-01 |
| BBC New Comedy Award | Winner | 2002-01-01 |
| Tickled Pink ITV | Artist | 2005-01-01 |
| QI BBC 1/Talkback | Guest | 2011-01-01 |
| One Free Hand BBC | Artist | 2006-01-01 |
| Comic Relief BBC1 | Artist | 2005-01-01 |
| World's Best CBS | Herself | 2018-01-01 |
| Woman's Hour BBC Radio 4 | Guest | 2003-01-01 |
| Underbelly Festival | Herself | 2019-01-01 |
| Golf War CHX for E4 | Artist | 2007-01-01 |
| Laughing Horse New Act | Finalist | 2002-01-01 |
| Stand Up Britain ITV | Artist | 2002-01-01 |
| Amused Moose Talent Quest | Winner | 2002-01-01 |
| BAFTA Single Documentary | Nominee | 2013-01-01 |
| In Therapy S2 | Nina and Monkey | 2020-01-01 |
| The Late Late Show RTE 1 | Guest | 2002-01-01 |
| BedTime Stories | Nina and Monkey | 2021-01-01 |
| Edinburgh Nights BBC 2 | Herself | 2016-01-01 |
| So You Think You're Funny? | Runner Up | 2002-01-01 |
| 28 Acts In 28 Minutes BBC | Artist | 2005-01-01 |
| Blunder CHX for Channel 4 | Artist | 2006-01-01 |
| Single Tiger Aspect for ITV1 | Mary | 2003-01-01 |
| SXSW Film Awards Audience Award | Winner | 2012-01-01 |
| Sunday Lip Service BBC Pilot | Artist | 2002-01-01 |
| Blunder Channel x for Channel 4 | Writer | 2007-01-01 |
| Flight Of The Conchords Radio 2 | Performer | 2005-01-01 |
| The Museum Of Curiosity BBC Radio 4 | Guest | 2018-01-01 |
| Hackney Empire New Act of the Year | Winner | 2002-01-01 |
| The Nightly Show ITV | Guest / Performer | 2017-01-01 |
| The Ralph Little Show BBC Choice | Guest | 2002-01-01 |
| As You Like It | Audrey | 2000-01-01 |
| Maverick Movie Award Best Performance | Winner | 2012-01-01 |
| Back To Methuselah | Savy | 2000-01-01 |
| For Your Consideration Christopher Guest | Artist | 2006-01-01 |
| Just for Laughs Sydney Festival | Headliner | 2019-01-01 |
| Comedy of Errors | Cowenson | 2000-01-01 |
| The Live Floor Show BBC Scotland for BBC2 | Guest | 2003-01-01 |
| BBC New Comedy Awards BBC1 and BBC Choice | Winner | 2002-01-01 |
| Russell Howard's Good News BBC 3/Avalon | Performer | 2012-01-01 |
| Bromwell High Hat Trick for Channel 4 | ‘Latrina' | 2005-01-01 |
| 100 Greatest TV Treats Yorkshire for Channel 4 | Guest | 2002-01-01 |
| The Grierson Awards Most Entertaining Documentary | Winner | 2013-01-01 |
| Her Master's Voice | Writer / Performer / Producer / Director | 2012-01-01 |
| Live at the Apollo BBC 1 / Open Mike | Host / Performer | 2012-01-01 |
| British Comedy Awards Best Female Television Comic | Winner | 2013-01-01 |
| The Rob Brydon Show (Series 2) BBC 2/Talkback | Performer | 2011-01-01 |
| The Dating Show: UK Tour / Edinburgh Fringe Festival / Soho Playhouse, New York Show & Tell | Nina Conti | 2021-01-01 |
| Friar's Club Festival Jury Award for Best Documentary | Winner | 2013-01-01 |
| Talk to the Hand Soho Theatre | Performer | 2010-01-01 |
| Richard Osman's House of Games BBC / Remarkable TV | Celebrity Guest | 2021-01-01 |
| Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Take Away Granada for ITV1 | Guest | 2005-01-01 |
| Alan Davies: As Yet untitled Dave / Comedy Central | Celebrity Guest | 2021-01-01 |
| The Warp Three Mill Island Studios | Artist | 1999-01-01 |
| Nina Conti Clowning Around BBC4 | Writer / Director / Producer | 2015-01-01 |
| Speaking From The Belly Tony Staveacre Productions Radio 4 | Writer | 2004-01-01 |
| Speaking From The Belly Tony Steveacre Productions Radio 4 | Presenter | 2004-01-01 |
| Philippe Parreno: Anywhen Short Film, Tate Modern Exhibition | Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| Intimate Death RNT Studio and Gate Theatre | Artist | 1998-01-01 |
| Work in Progress Pleasance | (Writer/Lead Performer) | 2019-01-01 |
| In Therapy Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Writer/Performer | 2017-01-01 |
| Melbourne International Comedy Festival Awards Barry Award - Best Show | Winner | 2008-01-01 |
| In Your Face Criterion Theatre, March | Writer / Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| Dolly Mixtures Soho Theatre, UK tour, Melbourne | Performer | 2014-01-01 |
| All New Comedy Store Open Mike for FIVE and The Paramount Comedy Channel | Guest | 2003-01-01 |
| In Your Face Criterion Theatre, September | Writer / Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| In Your Face New York Barrow Street Theatre | Writer / Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| Derren Brown and Nina Conti In Conversation British Library | Herself | 2017-01-01 |
| In Your Face World Buskers Festival, Christchurch NZ | Writer / Performer | 2017-01-01 |
| Make Me Happy – A Monkey's Search for Happiness Nina Conti and Monkey | Presented and Co-directed | 2012-01-01 |
| Micky Flanagan: Peeping Behind the Curtain SKY1/Double Busy Productions | Herself | 2021-01-01 |
| In Your Face Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Pleasance Grand | Writer / Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| Evolution Edinburgh & Melbourne Comedy Festivals and Soho Theatre London | Artist | 2008-01-01 |
| Clare In The Community (Series 1-11) Radio 4 / Megan Whardby / Nali "Ramsbottom" Jakovlivicz | Megan/Nali | 2004-01-01 |
| The Complete and Utter Conti Edinburgh Festival, UK Tour and Melbourne Comedy Festival | Artist | 2007-01-01 |
| Nina Conti and Simon Munnery Whack It Up the Flagpole Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Writer / Performer | 2016-01-01 |
| Live At The Apollo Open Mike | Host | 2014-01-01 |
| Sunlight | Writer/Director/Performer | 2024-01-01 |
| The Late Late Show with Craig Feguson CBS | Performer | 2012-01-01 |
| Your Face Or Mine – Melbourne Comedy Festival 2024 Melbourne Comedy Festival 2024 | Creator/performer | 2024-01-01 |
| Whose Face Is It Anyway? Edinburgh Fringe | Creator Performer | 2024-01-01 |
| Spinal Tap | Moira | 2025-01-01 |
Gallery
