15 Facts About Kura Forrester

Kura Leigh Forrester was born on 1985 and is a New Zealand comedian, actor and writer.

Kura Forrester formerly appeared as core cast member Desdemona Schmidt on prime-time soap opera Shortland Street.

Kura Forrester was born in Lower Hutt, Wellington to parents Amos and Robyn, who is Pakeha.

Kura Forrester attended high school at Wellington Girls' College, where she was involved in drama productions and the kapa haka roopu.

Kura Forrester trained for eight weeks at Philippe Gaulier's prestigious theatre school in Paris.

In 2013, Kura Forrester moved to London for two years as part of her OE, where she met fellow New Zealand comedian Jarred Christmas, who invited Kura Forrester to perform at a comedy gig he was running.

Kura Forrester returned to New Zealand in 2015 and performed her first solo comedy show, Tiki Tour, as part of the 2015 New Zealand International Comedy Festival.

Kura Forrester has appeared in numerous productions across television, film, and theatre.

On television, Kura Forrester has had leading roles in Auckland Daze, Super City, Find Me A Maori Bride, The Barefoot Bandits, The Adventures of Suzy Boon, Jandal Burn, Golden Boy and Educators.

Kura Forrester plays Desdemona Schmidt, the larger-than-life socialite mother of Angel Schmidt.

In 2019, Forrester was nominated for the Billy T Award, an award named after iconic New Zealand comedian Billy T James and awarded to the country's best up-and-coming stand-up comedian.

The award ceremony was held on 26 May 2019, and Forrester was awarded the Billy T In doing so, she became the first woman of Maori descent to win the award, and the first Maori to win it since 2004.

Kura Forrester has since toured the show across New Zealand.

Kura Forrester appeared on the panel show Patriot Brains in 2021.

In 2022, Kura Forrester was a contestant on series 3 of Taskmaster NZ.