Courtney Dawson
Acting
Courtney (Ngāti Kurī, Waikato-Tainui) stumbled into her first comedy gig in 2018, and has been going from strength to strength since then. After winning the NZ Raw Comedy Quest and the Best Newcomer Award at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards in 2019, she made her professional debut with a a sold out double act show in the 2021 International Comedy Festival. She was awarded Outstanding Comedy Performance in 2022 by the Auckland Fringe Festival, won Best Female Comedian at the 2023 NZ Comedy Guild Awards, and in 2024 was recognised by the NZ International Comedy Festival who awarded her Best Newcomer for her first solo show with the festival. Courtney maintains a solid presence on NZ television - she co-hosted two seasons of Rags are Riches, was a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention?, occupied the news desk on a season of Paddy Gower Has Issues, and more recently made us laugh as co-host of award winning infotainment show DON’T. She continues to be an in demand comedian, gigging regularly in Auckland and around the motu.
