Morgana Robinson is an Australian-born British comedian,

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, writer and actress. She has appeared in her comedy sketch programme '' The Morgana Show'', ''

Morgana Robinson's The Agency ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'' is a British mockumentary about fictional talent agency Mann Management, with impressions by Morgana Robinson. In a seven-part show, Robinson plays the roster of talent agent Vincent Mann. It was broadcast on BB ...

'', '' House of Fools'' and '' Very Important People''.

Early life

Robinson was born in

Shepparton Shepparton () (Yorta Yorta language, Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River (Victoria), Goulburn River in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Mel ...

, Victoria, in Australia to parents working as a nurse and a paramedic. Her family moved to the United Kingdom when she was three. She was primarily raised by her mother and spent much of her childhood sofa surfing. She attended Benenden School in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Her father was adopted, and her schooling at Benenden was paid for by her father's biological parents after he reconnected with them during her childhood. She studied sculpture at

City and Guilds The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has bee ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, earning a 2:2. On her father's side, Robinson has four elder half-siblings, one of whom is

Brody Dalle Brody Dalle (born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson; 1 January 1979) is an Australia, Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. She began playing music at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where she founded the punk rock ban ...

(born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson) of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

the Distillers The Distillers are an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by Australian vocalist and guitarist Brody Dalle. Dalle co-wrote, played guitar and provided lead vocals for nearly every track on the band's three albums ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Spinnerette. They first met as adults, backstage at one of Dalle's 2004 concerts at the

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Lon ...

Television career

Robinson got her start in television at age 25, after showing a homemade showreel to comedy agent John Noel while working as a waitress. Robinson's television debut came in 2007, as she played an eastern European internet bride in

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's comedy '' The Green Green Grass''. She then starred in the TV pilot ''Eight Steps to Enlightenment and a Nervous Breakdown'', an improvised

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

, playing Rachel, a self-obsessed glamour model, trying to rid herself of

cellulite Cellulite () or gynoid lipodystrophy (GLD) is the herniation of subcutaneous fat within fibrous connective tissue that manifests as skin dimpling and nodularity, often on the pelvic region (specifically the buttocks), lower limbs, and abdomen. C ...

. In 2009, she appeared as Anna in the BBC One comedy '' My Family'' in the episode "It's Training Men". In 2009, she appeared in a running sketch segment, ''Gilbert's Special Report'', in ''The TNT Show'' as Gilbert, a teenage boy who interviews celebrities, alongside his disabled crew members. In 2010,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

commissioned a five-part comedy sketch show, '' The Morgana Show''. Channel 4's head of comedy, Shane Allen, said: "Discovering, supporting and nurturing new talent is at the heart of Channel 4 comedy’s remit, and in Morgana we really feel we’ve found a fresh performer with a huge amount of potential." Her characters included giant-glasses wearing Gilbert, making TV shows from his bedroom, and her impressions of Fearne Cotton and mockumentary of Natalie Cassidy "Sonia off Eastenders". In 2012, Robinson starred in the Channel 4 sketch show '' Very Important People'' also starring

Terry Mynott Terry Mynott (born 21 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, impressionist and singer. He stars as Martin Hurdle in Channel 4’s '' The Mimic'', having previously appeared in '' The Morgana Show'' and '' Very Important People''. In 202 ...

. In the show, she impersonates a variety of performers, including Frankie Boyle,

Danny Dyer Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in ''Human Traffic'' (1999), with other notable roles Billy the Limpet in ''Mean Machine (film), Mean Machine'' (2001) and as Tommy J ...

, Amy Childs and

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

. In 2014 to 2015, she appeared as sexy nymphomaniac cafe-owner Julie in

Vic Reeves James Roderick Moir (born 24 January 1959), commonly known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian and artist. He has a double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. He is known for his surreal sense of humour. In 2003, Ree ...

and

Bob Mortimer Robert Renwick Mortimer (born 23 May 1959) is an English comedian, author, television presenter, writer and actor. He is one half of the comedy double act Reeves and Mortimer with Jim Moir, Vic Reeves, and appears in the ''Mortimer & Whitehouse ...

's two-series surreal

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

television comedy sitcom '' House of Fools'' in which her appearances include an obsessive attraction to Vic Reeves. In 2016, she appeared as Pippa Middleton in '' The Windsors'', a comedy parody of the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

in which she uses her sexiness to try to ensnare her sister's brother-in-law

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to ...

. In 2018, she appeared with

Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...

in '' Travel Man'', visiting

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In 2021, Robinson played Hilary Bowden in series 2, episode 4 of ''

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

''. The same year, she participated in the 12th series of Channel 4 comedy game show '' Taskmaster'', which she won. She returned to the series in 2024 as part of the third "Champion of Champions" special episode. In March 2022, Robinson appeared as Maxine in

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

comedy '' Newark, Newark''. Also in 2022, she co-starred with Dylan Moran in the BBC Two sitcom '' Stuck''.

Personal life

She was previously engaged.

Awards

At the 2012

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

, she won in the Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist category. In

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, she won the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

in the Best Short Form Programme category for ''Morgana Robinson's Summer''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
The Morgana Show
at The British Comedy Guide {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Morgana 1982 births Living people English film actresses English impressionists (entertainers) English stand-up comedians English television actresses English voice actresses English women comedians People educated at Benenden School Australian emigrants to England People from Shepparton Writers from Victoria (state)