# Tegan Higginbotham

Tegan Marie Higginbotham (born 1987 or 1988) is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress.

## Early life and education

Tegan Marie Higginbotham was born in 1987 or 1988 in Dandenong, Victoria. She attended Dandenong Primary School and Dandenong High School (since merged with Cleeland Secondary College).
Her first love was acting, until she discovered comedy in her late teens, and performed her first comedy gig at the age of 17.

## Career
### Live performance

Higginbotham has performed at every Melbourne International Comedy Festival since becoming a National Finalist at the festival's Class Clowns comedy competition in 2005.
She began her comedy career performing wild fast-paced sketch shows with fellow comedians Rob Lloyd and Adam McKenzie as the trio 'The Hounds', which later morphed into 'Watson', without Lloyd.
At the age of 21, Higginbotham began performing solo with her debut comedy show Million Dollar Tegan – nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2012.

### TV and radio

In 2016, Higginbotham was a regular cast member for the Australian version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Higginbotham co-hosted the controversial ABC2 pre-game, half-time and post-game coverages of the Liverpool F.C versus Sydney FC match with Julian Schiller and Steen Raskopoulos on 24 May 2017.
She joined Nicole Livingstone and Amberley Lobo as co-host and regular panellist on the one-hour live entertainment and sports comedy panel show called Sideliners which premiered on ABC TV on 30 June 2017.
In March 2024, Higginbotham joined Triple M's Marty Sheargold Show as executive producer, replacing Matt Thomson.

### Writing

Higginbotham contributes regularly as a sports columnist for The Age and writes a blog.

## Awards

| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
| 2012 | Million Dollar Tegan | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Best Newcomer | Nominated |
| 2012 | Shakespeare Fight Club | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Golden Gibbo Award (with ensemble 'Watson') | Nominated |
| 2014 | This is Littleton | AWGIE Awards | Best Comedy: Sketch or Light Entertainment (shared with ensemble of writers) | Nominated |
| 2014 | Who's Afraid of the Dark? | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Best Comedy Award (with ensemble 'Watson') | Won |
| 2015 | Who's Afraid of the Dark? | Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Golden Gibbo Award (with ensemble 'Watson') | Nominated |

## Community and charity work

Higginbotham performed at the Heart of St Kilda concert in 2014 with comedians Julia Morris, Charlie Pickering, musical comedy trio Tripod, ventriloquist Dean Atkinson, Greg Champion of the Coodabeens, and comedy character Elliot Goblet, to raise funds for Sacred Heart Mission, which assists hundreds of people who are homeless or living in poverty to find shelter, food, care and support every day of the year.

## Personal life

Higginbotham loves sports and sci-fi. and describes herself as "a big nerd at heart, whose favourite things ever are Star Wars and Harry Potter."
She married Paul Verhoeven in a civil ceremony in Paris in July 2019.

## Live comedy shows
### Solo comedy shows

* 2012: Million Dollar Tegan
* 2013: Touched By Fev
* 2014: Game Changer
* 2016: The City of Love

### Collaborative comedy shows

* 2006–2007: The Hound of the Baskervilles
* 2007: Every Film Ever Made
* 2008–2009: The Last Bucket of Water
* 2010: Robot V's World
* 2010: Jabba's Comedy Hutt
* 2011: The Terminativity
* 2011: Super Secret Awesome Show
* 2012: Shakespeare Fight Club
* 2014: The Wrestling
* 2015: Who's Afraid of the Dark?
* 2016: The Life Education Van for Adults!
* 2017: Go to Hell
* 2018: Watson World Tour

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009 | Perspective | Darcy | Short film |
| 2013 | Adoption | Tilly | Short film |
| 2014 | Dinner for Three | Cass | Short film |
| 2014 | The Heckler | Laura | Feature film |
| 2015 | Sweatshop | Ashlee Simmons | Short TV movie |
| 2015 | Holding the Man | Gina | Feature film |
| 2015 | Oddball | Zoe | Feature film |
| 2015 | A Night of Horror: Volume 1 | Maggie | Anthology film |
| 2018 | For Your Sins | Lucy | Short film |
| 2020 | The Divorce | Lawyer | Short film |
| 2023 | Jones Family Christmas | McKenzie | TV movie |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | Neighbours | Francis Taylor | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Studio A | Comedian | 1 episode |
| 2009 | Whatever Happened to That Guy? | Tegan | Season 1, 4 episodes |
| 2009 | City Homicide | Jana Mellor | Season 3, episode 14: "Mission Statement" |
| 2011 | The Bazura Project | Barmaid / Profane Shopper | Season 4, 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Rant | Reporter | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Aunty Donna's Rumpus Room | Tammy | Season 1, episode 2: "Chapel Street/Cresps/A Bad Date" |
| 2013 | Twentysomething | Applicant 1 | Season 2, episode 2: "Tricks of the Trade" |
| 2013–2015 | Have You Been Paying Attention? | Panelist | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Back Seat Drivers | Driver | 1 episode |
| 2014 | This is Littleton | Various characters | Season 1, 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Fancy Boy | Addiction Counsellor | Season 1, episode 1: "My Weird Addiction" |
| 2014 | It's a Date | Abby | Season 2, episode 4: "How Much Research Should You Do Before Dating?" |
| 2014 | Upper Middle Bogan | Jess | Season 2, episode 8: "Jules in the Crown" |
| 2014 | The 2014 Antenna Awards | Host | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Live on Bowen | Comedian | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Spicks and Specks | Panelist | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Community Kitchen | Herself | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Comedy Up Late | Comedian | 1 episode |
| 2015 | About Tonight | Host | 1 episode |
| 2015 | How to be Funny | Herself | 1 episode |
| 2016 | Molly | Petra | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Bounce | Herself | 2 episodes |
| 2016–2018 | Nowhere Boys: Two Moons Rising | Quinn Banda | Seasons 3–4, 5 episodes |
| 2016–2017 | Whose Line is it Anyway? Australia | Herself | 4 episodes |
| 2017 | Whovians | Presenter / Panellist | 9 episodes |
| 2017 | Liverpool FC versus Sydney FC | Host | 1 episode |
| 2017 | Sideliners | Co-host / Regular panellist | 7 episodes |
| 2017 | The Ex-PM | Floor Manager | Season 2, episode 3: "Image" |
| 2018 | Show Me the Movie! | Herself | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Help – The Series | Lucie | Miniseries |
| 2021 | Dish Island | Host | |

### As writer

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2014 | This is Littleton | Writer | Season 1, 4 episodes |
| 2014 | The 2014 Antenna Awards | Writer | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Dinner for Three | Co-writer / Associate Producer | Short film |
| 2015 | Little Lunch | Writer | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Open Slather | Writer | 9 episodes |
| 2023 | Jones Family Christmas | Writer | TV movie |

### Podcast series

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | Night Terrace | Jillemina | 1 episode: "Situational Awareness" |