Is Nina Oyama Gay? She Spoke about Her Bisexuality During a Standup Show
Is Nina Oyama gay? In a candid live performance, the Australian comedian opened up about her bisexuality, revealing that she had spent her whole life pretending to be straight and that coming out to the public and her parents was a challenging experience for her.
Although Nina Oyama dreamed of becoming a performer growing up, she broke her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) as a teenager and later discovered her true calling: stand-up. She was 17 when she first tried her hand at comedy, and Nina Oyama's younger self has left her older self cringing from her first few live performances.
However, the multi-faceted comedian has only improved over the years and landed her big break after appearing on fellow Australian comedian Dan Ilic's podcast. Nina Oyama went on to study Theatre and media and has grown her field of expertise from stand-up to writing and acting.
Nina Oyama at the premiere of "Deadloch" on May 31, 2023, in Sydney, Australia. | Source: Getty Images
One of her earliest writing credits came in 2016 when the Australian native earned a spot on the writing team of the mini-series "The Chaser's Election Desk." Since then, Oyama has made a name for self in the comedy world.
Over the years, she's gone from cracking jokes about her ex-boyfriend dumping her to coming out as bisexual and sharing her sex life. However, the Australian comedian still leaves fans wondering about her dating life.
Nina Oyama at the 2020 Australian Directors' Guild Awards on October 19, 2020, in Sydney, Australia. | Source: Getty Images
Nina Oyama Openly Bisexual
In honor of Bisexual Visibility Day in 2019, Oyama took to social media to share about her journey as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and revealed:
"..Coming out as bi for me was hard. People always want to shove you into a binary sexuality, but it's more complex than that. I still have internalized biphobia that I'm trying to unlearn every day..."
During a stand-up skit in 2021, Oyama joked that after spending most of her life pretending to be straight, she came out as bisexual to her parents. Although the moment was unplanned, her parents were "fine" with their daughter's sexuality.
However, she humorously added that her mother responded, "At least you're not a lesbian," but her Japanese dad did not understand what she was saying. "But it still counts," she said enthusiastically.
The comedian continued to share about her sexuality in a light-hearted tone and left the audience laughing when she compared being bisexual to an advertisement about picking between tacos and hotdogs.
Oyama's mother is from Sydney, Australia, and taught English in Japan when she met Oyama's father in a hostel in Nagoya. Although she wasn't raised "super Japanese," the comedian embraced her half-Asian culture growing up and attended Japanese weekend classes.
She isn't fluent in the language and carries a thick Australian accent; however, she joked that she could speak Japanese well enough to convince other people that she was, in fact, Japanese.
The Australian native has ventured into other industries, including developing ideas for and creating television shows. However, comedy remains at the heart of everything she does. Oyama said:
"...I really love comedy, and I don't know how to do anything else. I literally do not know what I would do..."
While the comedian has no idea what she would do aside from comedy, Oyama revealed that she knows exactly where she wants comedy to take her: to become a showrunner. "I want to make something that I would want to watch and make people think about things they wouldn't otherwise," the comedian revealed.
She Hosted an LGBTQ+ Show
Similarly to Ellen DeGeneres, Oyama tried her hand at hosting in 2022 when she hosted eSafety's YouTube show, "Queer & A," where she gave members of the LGBTQ+ community a rundown of the do's and don'ts of dating online. While the comedian's love life remains a mystery, she read and answered fans' questions and dilemmas regarding their love life.
Aside from "Queer & A," she has also appeared in front of the camera for several television shows. However, she has not said goodbye to live performances for good, as this month, she was booked to perform at the Sydney Comedy Festival.