Carla Collins (born April 30, 1965) is a Canadian comedian, actress, television host, and writer.
Collins performs across North America. She has been a regular at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles and toured with the renowned "Hot Tamales". In January 2015, Collins was awarded with Comedian Of The Year by the Southern California Motion Picture Council, an inaugural honour created to recognize Collins' talent.
Early life
Collins was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario,Vaughan, R. M. and Commanducci, Massimo (April 10, 2009). "Carla Collins: People made fun of her for years, she says. Now, it's her turn", ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', p. R4. until moving to Guelph, Ontario and attending
Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute
The Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI, Guelph C.V.I., GC) is a public high school in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The school is the oldest continuously operating public high school in Guelph, and the third oldest in the province of Ontario ...
She joined The Weather Network in 1990 as an on-air host, and subsequently moved to CFTO to host ''Eye on Toronto''. In 1995, she began hosting Baton Broadcastings's Entertainment Now, which she cohosted with Dan Duran. She also hosted the Canadian variety series ''Sonic Temple'' and the
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
series ''Chez Carla''. In 1998, Collins played an anchorwoman in ''Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms'' and Donna Jean in ''When Husbands Cheat''.
Earlier in her career, she was a morning radio personality on Toronto's
Mix 99.9
CKFM-FM (''99.9 Virgin Radio'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting on 99.9 MHz in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned by Bell Media. The station airs a Top 40/CHR format, and is the flagship of Canada's "Virgin Radio" stations. CKFM's ...
from 1992 to 1994, co-hosting with Tom Rivers along with Larry Fedoruk. Rivers left in 1993 and Fedoruk and Collins continued as a duo. She returned from 2001 to 2003. For the latter stint, following a short period co-hosting with
Steve Anthony
Steve Anthony (born Stephen Anthony Gomes on 2 April 1959 in Montreal, Quebec) is a former Canadian broadcaster. He gained attention throughout Canada as a MuchMusic host, or " VJ" from May 1987 to November 1995.drive time, Collins became the first woman in Canada to be billed as the sole regular host of a morning radio show on a commercial station in a major media market, as opposed to co-hosting with one or more men.
2000s
Collins had her first solo stand-up special, ''The Wonder Bra Years'', on The Comedy Network in 2001. It was one of the highest rated in the Comedy Now series.
Collins starred in 50 episodes of '' Paradise Falls'' a soap opera on Showcase Television as Rusty Sinclair (2001). She also appeared in: ''Deep in the City'' as a Sex-Shop Owner (2000), '' The Caveman's Valentine'' (2001), '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' as herself (2002), two episodes of '' Doc'' as Felicia Brand (2002–2003), ''Recipe for Murder'' as a Glam Reporter (2002), '' Tracker'' as Dr. Janet Sullivann (2002), and ''
Show Me Yours
''Show Me Yours'' is a Canadian comedy television series originally aired on Showcase between May 26, 2004 and May 31, 2005.
Plot
Dr. Kate Langford (Rachael Crawford) is a psychologist whose life is going well: she has a boyfriend David Exley ...
'' as Tammy (2005).
In 2003, she began to lend her voice to the PBS animated show Cyberchase as Erica Ram, a reporter who reports on events in Cyberspace.
Collins was a writer, star and host of ''Chez Carla'' (2000), ''Sonic Temple'' (2001), ''2 Smart Blondes'' (2003) and ''E-Now'' (1995).
In 2006 Carla teamed up with producer Frank Sicoli for an unscripted television sitcom titled ''The Visionary Position''. This series (released on DVD) is described as ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
''. Collins says, "I prefer to think of it as ''
The Ghost Whisperer
''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010.
The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate wit ...
'' on crack."
In 2006, she workshopped a one-woman show called ''The Visionary Position'' in Toronto and Los Angeles.
She is also a freelance writer for '' Inside Entertainment''.
In 2007, Collins married
Tyrone Power Jr.
Tyrone William Power IV (born January 22, 1959), usually billed as Tyrone Power Jr., is an American actor, the only son of Hollywood star Tyrone Power and his third wife Deborah Minardos Power. He was born after the death of his father.
He is th ...
, an actor from the United States.
Collins' reality show Carlawood debuted on
TVtropolis
DTour (styled as DTOUR) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment.
The channel was originally established by Canwest in 1997 as Prime, a cable companion to Global Television Network, Glob ...
in April 2009. The show follows her attempt to find work after her move to Hollywood, and satirizes reality shows.
2010s
Collins' filmed season two of her docu-soap/comedy '' Carlawood'', and is working on the movie ''The Hack'', a comedy/horror film in which she stars as a comedian who kills other performers for their material.
She also completed her first book "Angels, Vampires and Douche Bags" published by Burman Books.
She also lent her voice to a special from the hit Canadian animated series, Total Drama, in its second season, Total Drama Action‘s special, "Celebrity Manhunt's Total Drama Action Reunion Special", as the host of the show-within-a-show, Celebrity Manhunt, Blaineley. Then she lent her voice for the next season in '' Total Drama World Tour'', once again playing Blaineley, the co-host of Total Drama Aftermath, and then she became a late-coming contestant that same season and ending in either seventh or sixth place. This was her first voice acting role, a role which also required her to sing.
2020s
After performing at various locations doing standup comedy, Collins found that many venues were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, she performed some "Quarantine Queen" comedy programs on Facebook and began streaming "Comedic Meditation" from Los Angeles, at no charge to the public; she also offered private sessions. By autumn 2020 some venues were open and she performed at the El Mocambo in Toronto and began streaming her Meditation program in Canada, again free of charge.
A September 2020 article added that Collins's program "Carlawood" was streaming on
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...