Gina Yashere

Regina Obedapo Iyashere (born 6 April 1974), known professionally as Gina Yashere, is a British comedian, actress and writer who has made numerous appearances on British and American television. She co-created the American sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, on which she played a supporting role.

Early life Yashere was born and raised in Bethnal Green, London to Nigerian parents. Before becoming a comedian, she worked as a lift maintenance technician and engineer—becoming the first woman to reach this position in the company—all of which she mentions in her stand-up routine.

She uses the surname "Yashere" due to encountering common mispronunciation of her original surname.

Career Yashere was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1996. She has appeared in a number of television programmes, including the Black-British Caribbean comedy series The Lenny Henry Show, where she played Tanya and Mrs Omokorede, the pushy Nigerian mum. She voiced Keisha on the animated series Bromwell High. In 2005, she appeared on the reality television series Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, in aid of Comic Relief, and she co-hosted the 2006 and 2007 MOBO Awards alongside 2Baba and Coolio. She made numerous appearances on Mock the Week, and appeared on the CBBC show Gina's Laughing Gear.

In 2007, Yashere was featured on the reality show Last Comic Standing, auditioning in Sydney. She was among the ten finalists, but on 1 August 2007, she and Dante were the first two finalists eliminated.

In 2008, she became the first Briton to perform on Def Comedy Jam. On 3 September 2009, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and performed a stand-up comedy routine. On 24 December, she appeared on Live at the Apollo. She appeared twice on the short-lived primetime show The Jay Leno Show: on 21 October 2009, a video of Yashere showed her giving free fortune-telling readings to passers-by, and on 25 November 2009, she operated a walk-in psychic booth. Starting in 2010, she appeared semi-regularly on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a sketch comedy series called Madame Yashere: The Surly Psychic.

In 2010, Yashere appeared as Flo in several episodes of the ITV drama Married Single Other. In April 2010, her one-hour comedy special, Skinny B*tch, premiered on Showtime, a US cable channel. She appeared on the Watch TV show Scream If You Know the Answer with contestant Emily Green from Portsmouth. She helped Green win the show with a prize fund of £2,000. In 2012, she was featured on the second season of the Comedy Central series Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution. In 2013, Yashere appeared in an advert for Tesco Mobile. In 2015, she was featured as a selected comic on Gotham Comedy Live, which airs on AXS TV (season 4-Judah Friedlander) where she referred to the City of Cleveland, Ohio as "shit." On 8 January 2016, she appeared on The Nasty Show with Artie Lange, which aired on Showtime.

Starting on 16 March 2017, Yashere began a brief stint as the British correspondent for The Daily Show.

In September 2019, Yashere began appearing in a supporting role on the 2019 Chuck Lorre CBS sitcom, Bob Hearts Abishola, which Lorre created with Yashere. Yashere wrote and was a co-showrunner for the program Bob Hearts Abishola was the first American sitcom to feature a Nigerian family.

Personal life Yashere is a lesbian. Until 2025, she was primarily residing in Altadena, California, with her partner Nina Rose Fischer. The couple were living at their second house in Costa Rica, when the Eaton Fire destroyed the Altadena home. Yashere lost important personal possessions, including comedy notebooks. As of July 2025, they were no longer residing in the U.S., dividing their time between Costa Rica and Toronto, where Yashere was filming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Filmography

Film

Television