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RuPaul

RuPaul Andre Charles


(born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He[a] produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race and has received several accolades, including 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, three GLAAD Media Awards, a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Billboard Music Awards, and a Tony Award.


He has been dubbed the "Queen of Drag" and is considered the most commercially successful drag queen in the United States, with Fortune saying that he is "easily the world's most famous drag queen."

In 2017, RuPaul was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.



Born and raised in San Diego, California, RuPaul studied performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia, before relocating to New York City, where he became a popular fixture on the LGBT nightclub scene. He achieved international fame as a drag queen with the release of his debut single, "Supermodel (You Better Work)", which was included on his debut studio album Supermodel of the World (1993). As a recording artist, he has gone on to release fifteen studio albums. RuPaul was a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics in 1994, raising money for the Mac AIDS Fund and becoming the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign.


RuPaul's Drag Race was created in 2009 and has gone on to produce sixteen seasons in the United States.


The show has also seen success internationally and there are several international variants of the show, including RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019–present) and Canada's Drag Race (2020–present). There are also several spin-offs of the main show, such as RuPaul's Drag U (2010–2012), RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, (2012–present), and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race (2020–2022). His other television work includes The RuPaul Show (1996–1998), Skin Wars (2014–2016), Good Work (2015), Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul (2016–2017), and RuPaul (2019). In 2018, RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.


RuPaul has made appearances in films, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), as well as television series, including Girlboss and Broad City (both 2017). He created and starred in the Netflix original series AJ and the Queen (2020). RuPaul has also published four books: Lettin' It All Hang Out (1995), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (2010), GuRu (2018), and The House of Hidden Meanings (2024).


Early life


RuPaul was born in San Diego on November 17, 1960, the son of Ernestine "Toni" (née Fontenette) and Irving Andrew Charles. His parents were both from Louisiana.[9][10] He was named by his mother; "Ru" came from roux, the French term for the base of gumbo and other creole stews and soups. According to DNA analysis by Finding Your Roots staff, his ancestry is 70% African and 30% European.


After his parents divorced in 1967, RuPaul and his three sisters lived with their mother, a Seventh-day Adventist. He was raised in the Catholic faith and attended Patrick Henry High School. At 15, RuPaul and his sister Renetta moved to Atlanta, where they studied performing arts.


RuPaul struggled as a musician and filmmaker during the 1980s, working at Atlanta's Plaza Theatre. In 1982, he debuted on an Atlanta public access variety show called The American Music Show, and went on to appear on the show frequently.

He also took part in underground cinema, helping create the low-budget film Star Booty and an album of the same name. In Atlanta he often performed at the Celebrity Club, managed by Larry Tee, as a bar dancer or with his band, Wee Wee Pole.


RuPaul also performed as a backup singer to Glen Meadmore along with drag queen Vaginal Davis. His first prominent national exposure came in 1989, when he danced as an extra in the video for The B-52s' "Love Shack".


In the early 1990s, RuPaul worked the Georgia club scene and was known by his full birth name. Initially participating in gender bender-style performances, he performed solo and in collaboration with other bands at several New York City nightclubs, most notably the Pyramid Club. He played opposite New York City drag performer Mona Foot (Nashom Benjamin) in the one-act science-fiction parody "My Pet Homo", written and directed by Jon Michael Johnson for Cooper Square Productions. He performed for many years at the annual Wigstock drag festival and appeared in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie.


In the 1990s, RuPaul appeared on the UK Channel 4 series Manhattan Cable, a weekly series produced by World of Wonder and presented by American Laurie Pike about New York's public-access television system.

He also worked at WKTU in the late 1990s and was hired at WNEW in 2004.

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John Bellamy Comments: RuPaul is a MASSIVE INTERNATIONAL STAR - well known both sides of the Atlantic - and in the current climate of the USA it is surprising a drag queen ( female impersonator - but then, what women looks like that ... ) is so popular as Trump and the Republicans are damning and destroying anything to do with drag - trans - cross dressers as a way of ( of dear me ... ) protecting the children - as if drag queens want anything to do with children - it's their dads most are more interested in ) and my one experience of seeing RuPaul live was on an LGBT Cruise I took some years ago where RuPaul came onto the ship one day and hosted as a DJ one afternoon and all I can say was -


BORING


Absolutely no stage presence at all... DULL DULL DULL and where he came onto an LGBT cruise, dressed as a man while everyone expected him in drag...


No personality - no passion, no umph for what he was there for - He just stood these dancing to the music - telling us all we should stand tall and proud as LGBT - ' ER - YES DEAR - WE ARE ON AN LGBT CRUISE - SO YOU ARE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR' - and what conversation he shared with the audience was boring dull and banal.

The area cleared dramatically as at least 50% of those who had gathered to see him, after the initial 10 minutes, left the area.


Because he started his act late in the afternoon, he continued past the time dinner was to be served and so - dinner was delayed an hour which irritated the catering crew and pissed me off as being diabetic, I have to monitor when I am going to eat and in this case, had to have a Mars Bar to sort my blood sugars out - and then I was not hungry when dinner did eventually get served.


He was not impressive at all and - kinda - disappointed as he was the star turn on the cruise. He may be brilliant on TV where he has script writers - but in the flesh on this occasion - I would give him a 3/10 score.


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