Ria Lina (born 1980) is a British comedian, actress and writer. She has appeared on ''Yesterday, Today & The Day Before'', ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and pan ...

'', '' Steph's Packed Lunch'', ''

The Now Show ''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy programme on BBC Radio 4 which satirises the weekly news. The show, which ran from 1998 to 2024, is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. It features regular ...

'', ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 1977. The show, created by John Lloyd from an idea by Nicholas Parsons, has seen several hosts, including Barry Norman, Barry Took, Simon Hogg ...

'', and ''

Have I Got News for You ''Have I Got News for You'' (''HIGNFY'') is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one usually captained by Ian Hislop and one ...

''. In 2003, she won an

Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy The Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy (EMMA) is a British organization that raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns and social networking. The EMMA Awards was founded in 1997 by Bobby Syed and "seeks to promote diversity withi ...

award for Best Comedian.

Early life

Lina's mother is from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and her father from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She attended an American school in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

from the age of 14.

Career

Lina earned a BSc in pathology from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, an MSc in forensic science from

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

and a PhD in virology from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Stand-up

In 2003, Lina was a runner-up at the first

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker (Funny Women), Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women h ...

Awards. Lina has taken five shows to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. ''School of Riason'' was nominated for the Amused Moose Laughter Awards, and contained one of Dave's Top 10 Jokes of the Fringe, and was later broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 2016. Lina's ''Dear Daughter'' won the Best Comedy award at the Greater Manchester Fringe. Her other shows include ''Taboo Raider'', ''Thpethial'' and ''It's Not Easy Being Yellow''.

Television, radio and podcasts

Appearances include ''Yesterday Today and the Day Before'', ''

'', '' Steph's Packed Lunch'', ''

The Dog Ate My Homework ''The Dog Ate My Homework'' is a British children's panel show hosted by Lauren Layfield. It was first broadcast on 17 January 2014 and was originally hosted by the comedian Iain Stirling. The show is produced by CBBC Productions Scotland ...

'', ''Sky News'', ''

Talk Radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

'', ''Talk Radio Europe'', ''

'', ''

'', '' Richard Osman's House of Games'', ''

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK, part of the Murdoch family, Murdoch media empire. It is jointly operated by News Broadcasting (which News UK acquired in 2016, when it was known as ''Wireless Group''), ''The Tim ...

'', ''Breaking the News'', and '' QI'' Further TV work includes ''Jongleurs Live'', '' The World Stands Up'', ''Sweet 'n' Sour Comedy'', ''Meet The Blogs'', ''Malai Monologues'', the film short ''Christie'', and the documentary, ''A Bit of Oriental''. Lina voiced the character Perun in ''

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third installment in the '' Xenoblade Chronicles'' series and the sixth main entry in the ''X ...

''. She also narrated and voiced the character Zoe in the full-cast audiobook of cli-fi (

climate fiction Climate fiction (sometimes shortened to cli-fi) is literature that deals with climate change.Glass, Rodge (31 May 2013).Global Warning: The Rise of 'Cli-fi' retrieved 3 March 2016 Generally speculative in nature but inspired by climate science ...

) adventure ''MOOJAG and the Auticode Secret'' by N.E. McMorran / Spondylux Press, London 2020. Lina appeared in and won Episode 4 of the 21st series of '' Celebrity Mastermind'', broadcast in January 2023. She was one of

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter, singer and farmer. He is the host of the BBC One game show ''Pointless'', and is a weekday morning-show presenter on C ...

's co-hosts on ''

Pointless ''Pointless'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British television quiz show produced by Banijay Entertainment subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC and hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode, four teams of two contestan ...

'' in 2023. Since 2022, Lina has appeared as a guest co-host of ''

The Bugle ''The Bugle'' is a satirical news podcast, created by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in 2007. It is currently hosted by Zaltzman and a rotating cast of co-hosts including Alice Fraser, Nish Kumar, Anuvab Pal, Hari Kondabolu, Tom Ballard, Tif ...

'' podcast.

Personal life

Lina has two sons, a daughter and a stepson She married Steve Jones in 2002. Now divorced, Lina and her ex-husband continue to share their London household . She is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

, something she only became aware of in adulthood.

Awards

* Winner of the Best Comedy Award Greater Manchester Fringe 2016 for her show ''Dear Daughter'' * Finalist Amused Moose Comedy Award 2014 * Winner of the Best Comedy/Comedian

Award 2003 * Winner of the King of Kings Comedy Store Award 2003 * BBC New Comedy Awards 2003 semi-finalist * ''Daily Telegraph'' Open Mic Award 2002 finalist * Wilkinson Sword Cutting Edge of Comedy 2002 finalist

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lina, Ria 1980 births Living people Autistic actors Actresses from High Wycombe Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of St Andrews British actors with disabilities 21st-century British actresses British women television writers British writers with disabilities Comedians from Buckinghamshire English award winners English people of Filipino descent English people of German descent English stand-up comedians English television actresses English television writers English women comedians