Darienne Lake | |
|---|---|
 Lake at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2022 | |
| Born | Greg Meyer November 27, 1971 Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Drag queen, television personality |
| Years active | 1990–present |
Greg Meyer (born November 27, 1971), better known by the stage name Darienne Lake, is a drag queen and television personality. Lake began performing in drag in 1990 in Rochester, New York before rising to prominence after competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race , placing fourth.
Lake was born on Long Island, New York and moved to Rochester at age eleven. [1] At age eighteen, her mother kicked her out of her home due to her sexual orientation; her mother has since apologized. [2]
Lake’s drag career began in Rochester, New York following her first year of college in 1990. [1] She was inspired by a drag queen’s performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a local production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show . [3] When her friends put her up in drag, they said she resembled Ricki Lake in Hairspray (1988); the stage name Darienne Lake is an homage to her as well as to the Six Flags Darien Lake amusement park. [3] Lake later appeared on a 1997 episode of The Ricki Lake Show about plus-sized drag queens. [4] [5] Lake's drag mother, Naomi Kane, was also the drag mother of Mrs. Kasha Davis. [6]
Since the 1990s, Lake has been active in the New York drag community and has performed across the United States and internationally. [3] [7] Lake held the title of Miss Gay Rochester in 1998-1999. [8] [9]
In 2003, she appeared in a VH1 documentary about drag titled Boys Will Be Girls, alongside her drag daughter Pandora Boxx, who went on to become a contestant on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race as well as the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars . [3] [7]
Lake rose to international prominence after winning the fan vote to appear on the sixth season of Drag Race. During the series, Lake won a main challenge (episode three) and ultimately finished the competition in fourth place behind Adore Delano, Courtney Act, and eventual winner Bianca Del Rio. [3]
In 2018, Lake appeared in Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate . [10]
Lake has been praised for her lip syncing skills, having survived three lip syncs for your life on Drag Race. [11] [12] IndieWire wrote that Lake "lip syncs like the rent is due". [11] Vulture ranked Lake as one of the top 100 most powerful drag queens in America in 2019. [13]
Darienne Lake competed on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race AllStars (2023). [14] She ultimately finished the competition in ninth place.
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Altered Boy [16] |
|
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Shade: The Rusical" (with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race, season 6) | 2014 | Shade: The Rusical Album [17] |
| "Oh No, She Betta Don't! (Team Panty Ho's)" (with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race, season 6) | 2014 | Non-album single |
| "Money, Success, Fame, Glamour" (Glam Rock version) (with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, season 8) | 2023 | Non-album single |
| Song | Year | Other Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Lick It Lollipop" | 2014 | RuPaul | RuPaul Presents: The CoverGurlz [20] |
| "Christmas is Coming" | 2015 | Ivy Winters & Pandora Boxx | Christmas Queens [21] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Boys Will Be Girls | Herself | |
| 2008 | Mrs. Kasha Davis: The Life of an International Housewife Celebrity | Gladys Butts | Short film, credited as Greg Mayer |
| 2015 | This is Drag | Herself | |
| 2018 | Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate | Gorky Park |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Ricki Lake | Herself | Episode: "Get a Grip Doll... You're Too Fat to Be a Drag Queen" |
| 2014 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself | Season 6, Contestant; 4th place |
| RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked! | Herself | ||
| 2018 | Hey Qween! | Herself | |
| 2023 | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars | Herself | Contestant; [22] 9th place |
| RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked | |||
| Drag Me to Dinner | Hulu original reality series [23] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Meet the Queens | Herself | Stand-alone special RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 | [24] |
| 2023 | EW News Flash | Herself | Guest | [25] |
| 2023 | BuzzFeed Celeb | Herself | Guest | [26] |
| 2023 | Give It To Me Straight | Herself | Guest | [27] |
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Media related to Darienne Lake at Wikimedia Commons