RuPaul Andre Charles [ 1 ] [ 2 ] born November 17, is an American drag queen , television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. 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. 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 As a recording artist, he has gone on to release fifteen studio albums.
RuPaul's Drag Race was created in and has gone on to produce seventeen 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 —present and Canada's Drag Race —present. In , RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry.
He created and starred in the Netflix original series AJ and the Queen His parents were both from Louisiana. After his parents divorced in , RuPaul and his three sisters lived with their mother, a Seventh-day Adventist. RuPaul struggled as a musician and filmmaker during the s, working at Atlanta's Plaza Theatre. In , he debuted on an Atlanta public access variety show called The American Music Show , and went on to appear on the show frequently.
In the early s, 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 performed for many years at the annual Wigstock drag festival and appeared in the documentary Wigstock: The Movie. The song peaked at 45 on the Billboard Hot It charted on the UK Singles Chart , peaking on the top 40 at Radio airplay, heavy rotation of the music video on MTV , and television appearances on popular programs like The Arsenio Hall Show popularized the song.
His following release " House of Love " failed to place on any U. Various billboards featured him in full drag, often with the text "I am the MAC girl". The same year, he was featured in his first of two appearances in the Brady Bunch movies , in which he played Jan's female guidance counselor. In , he landed a talk show of his own on VH1 , called The RuPaul Show interviewing celebrity guests and musical acts. Later in the year he released his second album, Foxy Lady , this time on the L. The album failed to chart on the Billboard It also enjoyed limited mainstream success, charting at 95 on the Billboard Hot , which was his second and final solo Hot entry to date.
