RIA Lina doesn’t like to be pinned down by stereotypes, in fact, she has made a career out of poking fun at them.

With her Filipino looks and American accent, Ria has been able to bamboozle audiences over who she actually is.

The fact Ria has, to this day, never set foot in the Philippines and went to an American school in Holland, rather than in the States, makes her difficult to pigeonhole.

She says: “I play on the perceptions people may have of me when I first go on stage as an oriental woman with an American accent.

“They might be expecting me to be a certain way and then I start talking and their perceptions are broken.

“A bald fat man on stage doesn’t necessarily have to mention the fact – he might just talk about politics in his act.

“I decided to talk about it.”

Ria still finds the idea of identity intriguing.

She says: “I have never been to the Philippines and I have no heritage, apart from genetically, from there.

“I was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and moved to Holland at 14 where I went to an American school.

“However, when I fill out the ethnicity box on questionnaires I tick Pacific Islands because that’s how I look.

“It is confusing. One of my children took after my German dad’s genes and has blonde hair - so what box do they tick?”

The 30-year-old comedian started doing stand-up while at St Andrews University and in 2000, aged 20, she took the show Ezekial Falling to the National Youth Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and later began gigging.

Ria incorporates music into her acts with a ukulele.

Among her repertoire of songs are ones about being mixed raced, paedophilia and mail order brides.

The mother of four says: “When I started playing the ukulele I suddenly felt I had found my niche.

“Going on stage as a woman behind a mic is kind of daunting because you are competing with so many others, but going on stage as a woman with a ukulele means you’re a bit different and the audience is thinking ‘who is she?

“To start with, the ukulele was quite unusual, but now it’s having a resurgence.

“I used to get referenced to George Formby a lot - when I couldn’t be further away from him.

“Anyway, he actually played a ukulele banjo and I play the ukulele.”

Looking back Ria, who lives in London, says she could never have predicted her move into comedy.

She adds: “I am not naturally funny and I don’t think anyone in my high school would have thought I was funny.

“I have always been quite scientific about what makes people laugh because there is a formula to it.

“When you hear someone like Jimmy Carr you see he has found a way to recreate a joke in so many ways.”

Having been in comedy for ten years, Ria still finds it a difficult industry.

“It is a hard life gigging and it gets harder as you get older when you are juggling a family and work. You don’t want to be gone for months and so do not go too far away.

“Some comedians do not have that and go home to an empty house, but I love going home to my family.”

Ria Lina will be performing on Thursday, at Wivenhoe Cricket Club, Rectory Road, Wivenhoe.

The show starts at 8pm.

Tickets cost £6.50, or £5 for concessions. Visit www.wivenhoefunny farm.co.uk for details.