Urzila Carlson

Urzila Carlson (born 15 February 1976) is a South African-born New Zealand comedian and actress, known for her stand-up performances as well as her appearances on television programs in both New Zealand and Australia. Carlson is a regular panelist on 7 Days. Carlson is a regular panelist on both the Australian and New Zealand version of Have You Been Paying Attention? and was a panelist on The Masked Singer Australia for the show’s second and third seasons. In 2021, she was a contestant on the second season of Taskmaster NZ. Biography Carlson was born in 1976 at the Queen Victoria Hospital in Johannesburg. She grew up on the Ingwelala nature reserve, next to Kruger National Park and has a brother and a sister. Her parents separated when she was 6 or 7 years old. Carlson is a lesbian and came out to her mother when she was 24. She refers to herself as a "lesbiterian", a portmanteau of lesbian and Presbyterian. She married her partner Julie in 2014, and they have a son and a daughter together. Her 2016 memoir is called Rolling With The Punchlines. Carlson speaks English and Afrikaans. In 2018, she was named Australasian Ambassador of South African Tourism, representing the country as part of an ongoing campaign to encourage Australians, New Zealanders and South African expats to visit.