Kura Leigh Forrester

Kura Leigh Forrester (born 1985) is a New Zealand comedian, actor, and writer. In 2019, she won the Billy T Award for best emerging comedian for her show Kura Shoulda Woulda. Forrester formerly appeared as core cast member Desdemona Schmidt on the prime-time soap opera Shortland Street.

Biography Forrester was born in Lower Hutt, Wellington to parents Amos (Ngāti Porou) and Robyn, who is Pākehā. Her early years were divided between Wellington and Dunedin. She attended high school at Wellington Girls' College, where she was involved in drama productions and the kapa haka roopu. Following that, Forrester studied performing arts at Auckland's Unitec Institute of Technology – graduating in 2005. She also trained for eight weeks at Philippe Gaulier's prestigious theatre school in Paris. Among her inspirations, Forrester cites Rachel House, Nancy Brunning, Miriama McDowell, Madeleine Sami, Billy T. James, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, Hannah Gadsby, Jackie van Beek and her family – particularly on her Māori side in Tokomaru Bay, a small community near Gisborne on New Zealand's East Coast.

Career In 2013, Forrester moved to London for two years as part of her OE, where she met fellow New Zealand comedian Jarred Christmas, who invited Forrester to perform at a comedy gig he was running.

Forrester's theatre credits include Perplex, Camping, Ngā Pou Wahine, The Wholehearted, Amadeus and When Sun and Moon Collide.

In 2019, Forrester was nominated for the BillyT Award, an award named after iconic New Zealand comedian Billy T. James and awarded to the country's best up-and-coming stand-up comedian. As part of the 2019 New Zealand International Comedy Festival, Forrester performed her show Kura Shoulda Woulda at Auckland's Basement Theatre and Wellington's BATS Theatre. The award ceremony was held on 26May 2019, and Forrester was awarded the BillyT. In doing so, she became the first woman of Māori descent to win the award, and the first Māori to win it since 2004. In 2023, she appeared on Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee.

She released a series on YouTube in 2025 for The Spinoff called Bryn & Ku's Singles Club with Brynley Stent.