She co-founded the Court Jesters improv group in 1990 and was part of the New Zealand team that won the World Theatresports title in Los Angeles in 1994.
She moved to stand-up comedy full-time and in 1997 was the inaugural winner (with Ewen Gilmour) of New Zealand's most prestigious comedy award, the Billy T. She also regular appeared on TV3's Pulp Comedy. In recent years she has been working from Melbourne, Australia.
In 2001, Wilson won the Best Newcomer Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She has appeared to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her 2006 show Up There, Cal Wilson sold out at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
In 2002, she helped write the screenplay for the New Zealand sitcom Willy Nilly.
In 2007, Wilson started as a co-host with Akmal Saleh on the drive time radio show, The Akmal Show with Cal Wilson (later called The Wrong Way Home with Akmal, Cal and Ed) which aired on Nova FM Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth. Prior to taking the job, she had been a regular guest on the Triple M program Get This.
In 2008, Cal was involved in the eighth series of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars she was paired with series 7 winner Craig Monley and she was the 3rd eliminated contestant.
Wilson married Chris Woods in January 2008. She gave birth to their first child on 15 May 2009. They currently live in Melbourne, Victoria in the suburb of Sunshine.
In 2010, she became host of the program Sleuth 101 and she also took part in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate, along with Fiona O'Loughlin and Arj Barker.
In 2012, she appeared as a guest on the UK comedy quiz show QI (J series) (Episodes 3 - Journeys, and 6 - Joints), and in 2013, she appeared as a team captain of Team Cal in Australian light entertainment television series Slide Show.
In 2014, she appeared as a panellist in Australian television series Have You Been Paying Attention?.
In 2018, Wilson made a guest appearance on Hughesy, We Have a Problem.
