Biography

Kansiime Kubiryaba Anne (born 13 April 1986) and popularly known as Anne Kansiime, is a Ugandan entertainer, comedian, and actress. She has been referred to as "Africa's Queen of Comedy" by some African media outlets.

Background and education

She was born in Mparo in present-day Rukiga District, in the Western Region of Uganda. At the time of her birth, Mparo was part of Kabale District. Her father is a retired banker, and her mother is a housewife. Kansiime attended Kabale Primary School. For her O-Level and A-Level education, she studied at Bweranyangi Girls' Senior Secondary School in Bushenyi. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from Makerere University.

Career

Beginning in 2007, while still an undergraduate at Makerere University, Kansiime began to participate in drama skits acted by the theatre group Theatre Factory, who played at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala's central business district. When Theatre Factory disintegrated, she joined Fun Factory, that replaced it. The group plays every Thursday evening. The best skits were broadcast on NTV Uganda in the Barbed Wire TV show that later became U-Turn. She partnered with Brian Mulondo as a Taxi interview conductor in the MiniBuzz series and provided comic video dramatizations of topical issues that random passengers discussed.

According to recorded interviews that she gave in 2014, Anne began posting some of her sketch comedy skits on YouTube. She received positive feedback and that encouraged her to post more videos. Her screen breakthrough came when Citizen TV from neighboring Kenya offered her a slot to produce, star and present a comedy show once a week. That is how she came up with the Don't Mess With Kansiime comedy show. As of November 2014, her YouTube channel had amassed more than 15 million views. Her YouTube videos receive thousands of views and she has appeared on BBC Focus on Africa. She has played to packed houses in Blantyre, Gaborone, Kigali, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Lilongwe, London, Lusaka and Harare.

Other considerations

Even amongst various acting commitments, Kansiime has continued performing and touring as a standup comedian. Kansiime's comedy style tends to focus on aspects of her personal life. "I like talking about things that are going on in life, because that's always going to be different and original," she says. She is married to Gerald Ojok, a native Acholi. In Nov 2017, there were rumours that she divorced her husband. They have no children, as of February 2015. At that time, she was in the process of compiling an album of Children's songs, which she intends to release later in 2015.