Alexis Michelle | |
---|---|
Born | Alexander J. Michaels [1] October 16, 1983 SoHo, Manhattan, New York, U.S. [2] |
Education | University of Michigan (BFA) |
Occupation(s) | Drag queen, singer |
Years active | 2003–present |
Television | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 9) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 8) |
Relatives | Lisa Loeb (cousin) |
Alexander J. Michaels (born October 16, 1983), [3] stage name Alexis Michelle, [4] is an American drag queen and singer who came to international attention on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race . As of 2019, she stars in the TLC transformational makeover television series Dragnificent as the makeup and body image expert. She released her debut album, Lovefool, in 2018.
Michaels was raised on Long Island. He attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts and received a BFA in musical theatre from the University of Michigan. [5]
He started doing drag when he was 10 years old and had paid professional gigs starting in 2003. [6] His cousin is singer Lisa Loeb. [7] [8] He is of Romanian-Jewish descent. [9] He comes from the same drag mother as season 10 contestant Dusty Ray Bottoms. [10] He was seen wearing a Dusty T-shirt in the workroom in one of the episodes of season nine, and Bottoms wore an Alexis T-shirt in season 10. He auditioned for Drag Race eight times before being selected for season nine. [11]
She originated a role in the one-act campy comedy show, Rags to B***hes: A Battle of Wits & Wigs. [12] Alexis Michelle was announced as one of fourteen contestants competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race on February 2, 2017. [13] She was the winner of the annual "Snatch Game" challenge in episode six, portraying Liza Minnelli. [14] She was in the bottom two in the comedy challenge two episodes later and eliminated Farrah Moan to a lip sync of Dolly Parton's "Baby I'm Burning". [15] In episode eleven, she was in the bottom two again with Peppermint, and lost a lip sync to the Village People's "Macho Man", placing Michelle in fifth. [16]
She frequently performs at the Feinstein/54 Below cabaret with her show about Broadway "Alexis, I Am!". [17]
Michelle appeared with BeBe Zahara Benet, Jujubee and Thorgy Thor in the TLC show Drag Me Down the Aisle which aired on March 9, 2019. [18] The special was subsequently given a full series order under the new name Dragnificent! premiered in April 2020. [19] In 2023, she competed on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars , and placed fourth overall. [20]
Michelle is the drag mother of Jan Sport, who placed eighth on the twelfth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[ citation needed ]
Michelle teamed with Sasha Velour, Aja and Peppermint for the single "C.L.A.T." in April 2017. [21]
Michelle released her ten-track debut album, Lovefool, on May 11, 2018. [22] A music video for the single of the same name, a cover of the 1996 song by The Cardigans, was available on May 17, 2018. [23]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself (contestant) | Season 9, 5th place | [13] |
2017 | RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked | Herself | Season 9 | |
2019–20 | Dragnificent! | Herself | Also known as Drag Me Down the Aisle | [18] |
2019 | The Rachael Ray Show | Guest | [24] | |
2020 | Hot Ones: The Game Show | Contestant | [25] | |
2021 | Blue Bloods | Oscar/Bartender | Episode: "Guardian Angels" | [26] |
2023 | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars | Herself (contestant) | Season 8, 4th place | [27] |
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked | Herself | Season 8 | ||
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen | Herself | Guest | [28] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drag Queen Carpool | Herself | Guest, hosted by RuPaul | [29] |
Drag Makeup Tutorial | Guest | [30] | ||
Whatcha Packin' | Guest | [31] | ||
COSMO Queens | Guest | [32] | ||
Queen To Queen | Guest, with Charlie Hides | [33] | ||
How To Makeup | Guest | [34] | ||
2018 | Hey Qween | Guest | [35] | |
Transformations | Guest; Episode: "Alexis Michelle" | [36] | ||
Out of the Closet | Guest, Episode 4 | [37] | ||
The Pit Stop | Guest, Episode: "The B*tchlor" | [38] | ||
2019 | Bootleg Opinions | Guest; Hosted by Yuhua Hamasaki | [39] | |
2020 | The Pit Stop | Guest | [40] | |
2023 | Meet the Queens | Stand-alone special RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8 | [41] | |
EW News Flash | Guest | [42] | ||
BuzzFeed Celeb | Guest | [43] | ||
React to TikTok Trends by Allure | Guest | [44] |
Year | Title | Artist | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | "Too Funky" | Peppermint featuring Ari Gold | [45] |
2018 | "LOVEFOOL" | Alexis Michelle | [46] |
2019 | "Rocking Around The Hanukkah Bush" | Alexis Michelle | [47] |
Year | Title |
---|---|
2018 | Lovefool |
Year | Title |
---|---|
2017 | C.L.A.T. (featuring Sasha Velour, Aja and Peppermint) |
2018 | Lovefool |
Year | Title |
---|---|
2023 | "Money, Success, Fame, Glamour" (Glam Rock version) (with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, season 8) |
2023 | "Joan! The Unauthorized Rusical" (with the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, season 8) [48] |
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and have been a part of gay culture.
Nea Marshall Kudi Ngwa better known by his stage name BeBe Zahara Benet, is a Cameroonian-American drag performer, television personality, and musician best known for winning the first season of the reality-television drag competition RuPaul's Drag Race in 2009. In 2018, he returned as a surprise contestant for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, placing in the top four.
Airline Inthyrath, known by her stage name Jujubee, is an American drag queen, reality television personality, and recording artist from Lowell, Massachusetts. She first rose to prominence in 2010 as a contestant on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, and later returned to compete on the first and fifth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World (2022), becoming one of the most popular queens from the franchise. She has the unique distinction of being the only contestant to reach the finale of the competition four times. Additionally, she was a main cast member on the makeover television series RuPaul's Drag U (2010–2012), Dragnificent (2019–2020), and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race (2022). In 2021, she competed in the first season of Paramount+ singing competition Queen of the Universe.
Karl Philip Michael Westerberg, known professionally as Manila Luzon, is a Filipino-American drag queen, reality television personality, recording artist, and comedian. Luzon came to international attention as a contestant on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the first and fourth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
Alexis Mateo Pacheco, best known as Alexis Mateo, is a Puerto Rican drag queen, performer, reality television personality, fashion designer, and the winner of All American Goddess 2016, Miss Gay Days 2016 and National Showgirl 2017. She became internationally known as a contestant on season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, and seasons one and five of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Alexis Mateo is also drag mother of viral sensation and "RuGirl" Vanessa Vanjie Mateo.
Timothy K. Wilcots, better known by the stage name Latrice Royale, is an American drag performer, recording artist, and reality television personality. She is best known for her appearances on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012 and on the first and fourth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. She finished fourth on her original season; in its final episode, she was crowned Miss Congeniality. She placed fifth on the fourth season of All Stars.
Peppermint, or Miss Peppermint, is an American actress, singer, songwriter, television personality, drag queen, and activist. She is best known from the nightlife scene and, in 2017, as the runner-up on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In 2018, Peppermint made her debut in The Go-Go's-inspired musical Head Over Heels as Pythio, becoming Broadway's first out trans woman to originate a lead role.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars is an American reality competition spin off edition of the original RuPaul's Drag Race, which is produced by World of Wonder, for Logo TV and later VH1. The show premiered on October 22, 2012, on Logo TV, before relocating to VH1. However, it was announced on February 20, 2020, on the show's official Twitter account that the fifth season would premiere on June 5, 2020, on Showtime. Following the cast announcement on May 8, 2020, producers announced that the show would remain airing on VH1 instead of Showtime due to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused "various scheduling and programming adjustments". On February 24, 2021, Paramount+ announced via Twitter that the streaming service would be the new home to the series for the sixth season.
Christopher Delmar Caldwell, known by his stage name Caldwell Tidicue, and better known as his drag name Bob the Drag Queen, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, activist, musician, and reality television personality. He is best known for winning the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. As of 2020, he has more than one million followers on Instagram and was the first Black Drag Race queen to reach the milestone. After Drag Race, he pursued acting, appearing in television shows such as High Maintenance (2016), Tales of the City (2019), and A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019). In 2020, he began co-hosting We're Here on HBO alongside fellow Drag Race contestants Eureka O'Hara and Shangela.
Zavion Michael Davenport, better known by the stage name Chi Chi DeVayne, was an American drag queen and reality television personality who came to international attention on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. DeVayne began her drag career in her native Shreveport, Louisiana, where she was known locally prior to her 2016 debut on Drag Race. Following her time on the show, DeVayne embarked on a number of domestic and international tours, and she was featured on several web series about drag. Davenport was diagnosed with scleroderma in 2018 and, two years later, he died following a bout of pneumonia he contracted after a hospital stay for scleroderma-related kidney failure.
James Jeffrey Wirth, better known as Jaymes Mansfield, is an American drag queen, TV personality, and YouTuber. She is best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and playing the part of Delia Von Whitewoman in the film The Bitch Who Stole Christmas.
Ryan A. Taylor, known professionally as Trinity "The Tuck" Taylor or just Trinity the Tuck, is an American drag queen and recording artist best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and for winning the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, shared with Monét X Change. She went by Trinity "the Tuck" Taylor on her original season, but on the first episode of All Stars, she indicated that she would henceforth go simply by Trinity the Tuck.
Jaren Kyei Merrell, known professionally as Shea Couleé, is an American drag queen, musician, actor, podcaster, and fixture of the Chicago nightlife scene. Born in Warsaw, Indiana, they began their drag career in 2012. In 2017, Couleé achieved international fame after competing on season nine of RuPaul's Drag Race, placing in the top four. In 2020, Couleé won the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Couleé later returned to compete on the all-winners seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2022, once again placing in the top four.
Thorgy Thor is the stage name of Shane Thor Galligan, an American drag queen and musician who came to international attention on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the third season of All Stars.
Venus Nadya Oshun, known professionally as Aja Miyake-Mugler, better known mononymously as Aja, is an American rapper, reality television personality and drag queen best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
Mayhem Miller is the stage name of Dequan Armand Johnson, an American drag performer and actor, best known for competing on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2018) and the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2020).
Yuhua Hamasaki is the stage name of Yuhua Ou, a Chinese-born American drag queen, singer, actor and reality television personality who came to international attention on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Dragnificent! is a television series on the American network TLC. The show started as a special branded as Drag Me Down the Aisle which aired on March 9, 2019. It features Alexis Michelle, BeBe Zahara Benet, Jujubee, and Thorgy Thor, four drag queens who are all RuPaul's Drag Race alumnae, helping an engaged woman to plan her upcoming wedding. On January 15, 2020, TLC announced that it had given a full season run to Dragnificent!, a new show to be based on the Drag Me Down the Aisle special. The series premiered on April 19, 2020.
"Reality Stars: The Musical" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American reality competition television series RuPaul's Drag Race, which aired on VH1 on April 21, 2017. The episode has contestants take selfies with the Pit Crew for the mini challenge, and perform a Hamilton-inspired musical about the Kardashian family and other celebrities for the main challenge. Todrick Hall and Meghan Trainor serve as guest judges, alongside regular panelists RuPaul, Michelle Visage, and Carson Kressley.
Jan Sport, sometimes known simply as Jan, is the stage name of Charlie Mantione, an American drag queen and singer based in New York City, who came to international attention on the twelfth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. On May 26, 2021, she was announced as one of the 13 contestants on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, where she placed 7th overall.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)