- Born
- Birth nameRuPaul Andre Charles
- Nicknames
- Glamazon
- Supermodel of the World
- The World's Most Famous Drag Queen
- Mama Ru
- Ru
- Queen of Drag
- Height6′ 4″ (1.93 m)
- RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American actor, model, singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. As executive producer and host of the reality competition TV series RuPaul's Drag Race (2009), RuPaul has received fourteen Primetime Emmy Awards - the most wins for outstanding host of a reality or competition program and for any Black artist in history.
In 2022, RuPaul received a Tony Award as a producer of Best Musical A Strange Loop.
RuPaul is the most commercially successful drag queen of all time, and in 2017 was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
RuPaul was born and raised in San Diego, CA and later moved to Atlanta, GA to study performing arts. After settling in New York City, RuPaul became a popular fixture on the nightclub scene before achieving international fame with the release of the 1993 song RuPaul: Supermodel, You Better Work (1993).
In 1995, RuPaul became the first spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, raising millions of dollars for the MAC AIDS Fund and becoming the first man to land a major cosmetics campaign.
In 1996, RuPaul landed a TV talk show on VH1, RuPaul's Drag Race (2009), taping more than 100 episodes with co-host Michelle Visage, while simultaneously co-hosting a morning drive radio show with Visage on WKTU.
As a recording artist, RuPaul has co-written and co-produced eighteen studio albums to date, including Foxy Lady (1996), Champion (2009), Glamazon (2011), Born Naked (2014), American (2017), and Black Butta (2023).
RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) has produced sixteen seasons to date and has inspired several international spin-off series, including RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019) and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2012). RuPaul was also featured as a host on the series Skin Wars (2014): Fresh Paint, Good Work, Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul, Lingo, Celebrity Lingo, and was the guest host of Saturday Night Live (1975) on February 8th, 2020.
As an actor, RuPaul has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows, both in and out of drag, including Crooklyn (1994), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), the Comedy Central series Broad City (2014), Netflix originals Girlboss (2017) and Grace and Frankie (2015), and as the voice of Queen Chante in The Simpsons (1989). In 2020, RuPaul teamed up with Michael Patrick King (Sex in the City, 2 Broke Girls) to produce the Netflix original comedy series AJ & The Queen, in which RuPaul also starred.
As an author, RuPaul has published four books: the #1 New York Times bestseller The House of Hidden Meanings (Harper Collins, 2024), GuRu (Harper Collins, 2018), Workin' It! RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style (Harper Collins, 2010), and Lettin' It All Hang Out (Hyperion Books, 1995). On March 16, 2018, Jane Fonda presented RuPaul with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6652 Hollywood Blvd.
RuPaul lives in New York, California, and Wyoming, and is married to Australian rancher Georges LeBar. They met on the dance floor in 1994 at Limelight Disco in New York City.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Creative Artists Agency
- SpouseGeorges LeBar(January 24, 2017 - present)
- ParentsErnestine CharlesIrving Charles
- RelativesRenae Charles(Sibling)Renetta Charles(Sibling)Rozy Charles(Sibling)Cory Booker(Cousin)
- During an appearance on the program Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012), it was discovered that RuPaul is a cousin of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
- He was the surprise guest at the VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross in an all star lineup that included Donna Summer, Faith Hill, Destiny's Child and Mariah Carey, performing Ross's hit song "I'm Coming Out".
- On the week of RuPaul's 40th birthday, a replica statue of him was unveiled at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in New York City (2000).
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6652 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on March 16, 2018.
- One of his favorite movies is the cult classic Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988).
- If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?
- I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven inch heels, four foot wigs, and skintight dresses?
- [on his mother Ernestine Charles] As the two of us sat watching television, Kurt Loder popped up on the tube, teasing an MTV News story with footage of me frolicking around a shopping mall in Jersey City. He said "Coming up next, she's er ah he's 6' 4" and supermodel of the world. Me and Mama both looked at each other, and in that moment we simultaneously realized that her prediction, made 32 years prior, had finally come true. I was a star. That was the last time I saw Mama.
- I was having breakfast in the Presidential Suite of the Century Plaza Hotel courtesy of the "John & Leeza Show" when the phone rang and it was my manager. He told me that Elton John wanted to include me on his upcoming "Duets" album and was I interested? I said, "Hold on one minute." The size of the suite gave me the opportunity to flail my arms around while running back and forth screaming "Oh my God, Elton John! Oh my God, Elton John!" I must have screamed for a good five minutes before I got back on the line and answered nonchalantly, Sure.
- Doing what I do for a living has never been easy. I've had to fight countless battles in this game that the public has no idea ever happened. But, I just pick myself up and carry on, I Carry On.
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