All About Viza
Growing up in a loud Italian family, Viza learned very quickly how to become the centre of attention: be funny. She’s still hoping to one day achieve this.
Born and raised in Hamilton, the ashtray of Ontario, Canada, Viza’s career in comedy began at a young age. During an elementary school production of Peter Rabbit, she flubbed her opening line and when she proceeded to turn her back from the crowd, she tripped and fell backwards into the cardboard set. Those initial laughs from the audience were like a drug. She’s been chasing that high ever since.
At 17, she moved to Toronto to study at TMU (formerly Ry*rson University) where she graduated with a BA in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in conveniences. During the first year of her studies, she discovered Toronto’s vibrant and (at the time) bustling gay village smack dab in the heart of Church & Wellesley. Underage, yet still looking 30, she snuck into a gay bar and saw her very first live drag show. After witnessing the host’s lacklustre interactions with the crowd, Viza thought to herself “I can do better than that”. And she did.
With a career spanning over 16 years, Viza has been fortunate enough to work with countless legends of Toronto and Canadian drag. As a member of the now defunct “Lads & Lashes”, she helped raise thousands of dollars for various AIDS committees and organizations throughout Ontario, Canada. She has won several prestigous Toronto based drag titles including Drag Idol, Crews & Tangos Drag Race: One Night Only, Miss Crews & Tangos, and Queen Of Halloween. She is a founding member of WERQ THE MIC, an all drag comedy troupe that performs throughout Canada, and is the creator and producer of the FUNNY GURL comedy drag pageant established in 2019. In television, Viza can be seen on CRAVE’s The Stranger Experiment and the Miss Vanjie episode of CBC Gem’s “True Dating Stories”.
In late 2019, Viza sashayed away from the Church & Wellesley stages and made her prescense more known in Toronto’s live comedy scene. She has been featured on 2023’s JFL 42 Toronto lineup and over the last few years has become Toronto’s Drag Queen Of Stand Up Comedy.
Click here to see when she’ll be performing next.
Viza is represented by Meg McGuire of The Baxter Talent Agency.