Shazia Mirza is a British comedian, actress, and writer. She is best known for her stand-up comedy, and her articles in British newspapers ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''.

Early life and education

Mirza was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, the eldest daughter of Punjabi Pakistani parents who moved to Birmingham, England in the 1950s. Mirza read Biochemistry at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

and then achieved a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London. Before beginning her career in comedy, Mirza was a science teacher at Langdon Park School, where she taught Dylan Mills, now known as the grime pioneer Dizzee Rascal.Time Out London: Shazia Mirza: interview
17 June 2008 She later attended Rose Bruford College, where she studied acting part time while working as a supply teacher, taking the final year of the course full time.

Career

Stand-up

Her comedy is said to push barriers and as a comedian, she is often referred to as 'brave'.

Writing

Mirza was a columnist for ''

'' between 2008 and 2010. She has also written columns for '' The New Statesman'' and ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'' newspaper.

Television and radio

She was a regular panelist on the Channel 5 topical discussion series '' The Wright Stuff'', as well as appearing on other TV shows In April 2007, she presented a documentary on BBC Three called ''F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman''. Mirza has also appeared in reality game shows ''Celebrity The Island'' with Bear Grylls on

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 ...

(2017), and in 2018, the Channel 5 show ''Celebs in Solitary''. In 2024 she appeared in SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Shazia Living people English people of Pakistani descent Schoolteachers from the West Midlands English stand-up comedians Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands English women comedians British comedians of Pakistani descent English columnists English women columnists The Guardian journalists British women columnists Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of Rose Bruford College 21st-century English comedians Year of birth missing (living people) 1970s births