Lara Rae

Lara Rae has blazed a trail in Canada’s comedy scene over the last 30 years, including as co-founder and longtime artistic director of the successful Winnipeg Comedy Festival, where she was invested in uplifting women and diverse comics.

As one of the developers of the hit television series Little Mosque on the Prairie, Rae earned three Canadian Comedy Awards and a Gemini Award nomination. The series ran for six seasons and aired around the world.

In 2019, Rae shared her own story of a “half-century long (and counting) gender odyssey” in a moving original play entitled Dragonfly.” The play is described as “a call to all of us to forge creativity from chaos.” The play has had performances as far away as London, UK. She was also the first transgender person to guest host a national CBC news program when she guest hosted The Current and has contributed 100’s of segments to CBC Radio including over 50 appearances on The Debaters. She currently teaches adult ed classes on opera and literature and is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg in the women and gender studies department.  Last June she was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Manitoba for her contribution to Manitoba culture and her work in social services for which she also was selected by The Nellie McLung Foundation as one of their 150 Women of Distinction.