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Valentina (drag queen)

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Valentina
Born
James Andrew Leyva

May 19, 1991 (age 27)
Bell, California
OccupationDrag queen
Years active2015–present
Websiteallaboutvalentina.com

Valentina is the stage name of James Andrew Leyva,[1] an American drag performer and television personality best known as a contestant on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Early life

Leyva was born on May 19, 1991[2] in Bell, California, to Mexican parents.[1] He began working as a professional drag queen around ten months before filming RuPaul's Drag Race, although he had been experimenting with drag looks and studying performance for longer.[3] In 2015, Valentina won a club version of the Boulet Brothers' Dragula contest, which is now a television show.[4] Valentina is known for using her drag as a way to represent Latin American culture on the runway and make drag more accepted in Latin American culture.[1]

Career

On February 2, 2017, Valentina was announced as one of fourteen contestants competing for the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[5] She won the second episode's challenge, and received positive critiques from the judges in subsequent episodes.[6] In episode nine, Valentina infamously left her mask covering her mouth during the bottom two lipsync to "Greedy" by Ariana Grande, and was eliminated for not knowing the song lyrics.[7] She placed seventh overall, and her elimination sparked some controversy online as she was popular with fans.[8] She was later awarded the title of "Miss Congeniality" in the show's reunion episode by vote, and titled "Fan Favorite" by her fellow cast mates of season 9.[9] She appeared via a pre-recorded video message in the season 10 finale to crown her successor for Miss Congeniality, Monét X Change.

Outside of the show, Valentina appeared in the sixth episode of the twenty-fourth season of America's Next Top Model, in a photo shoot challenge with fellow Drag Race alumni Manila Luzon and Katya.[10] She played Judy Reyes's character Quiet Ann in a season one recap of Claws.[11] In 2017, she was the host of her own WoWPresents internet show, "La Vida De Valentina" which ran for seven episodes.[12][13]

Valentina was in the October 2017 issue of Vogue Mexico, and filmed a makeup tutorial for Vogue's YouTube channel.[14][15] She was in the July 2017 issue of Elle Mexico modeling designs by Benito Santos for his Red Carpet 2018 campaign.[16] She appeared in the January 2018 issue of Filipino magazine Preview.[17]

Drag Race: All Stars winner Alaska Thunderfuck did a parody song of "Despacito" called "Valentina" in October 2017, with lyrics about Valentina and her infamous elimination from the show.[18] The cosmetics company Lush also referenced Valentina’s elimination for advertising on one of their face masks.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c Cooper, Michael (2017-03-31). "L.A.'s Own Drag Race Contestant, Valentina, Wants More Than to Win". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  2. ^ "Valentina💋 on Instagram: "Tonight!!! Please. Please come and join me💕 Birthday celebration starts at 7pm and the viewing starts at 8pm! Seating is first come first…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  3. ^ "Meet Valentina, The Drag Queen Representing L.A. On 'RuPaul's Drag Race'". LAist. Archived from the original on 2017-11-05. Retrieved 2018-06-12. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Boulet Brothers on Instagram: "Congratulations to @allaboutvalentina ! Valentina won the club version of Dragula in Los Angeles two years ago, and has continued to claw…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  5. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race Cast | logotv.com". Logo TV. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  6. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race Had a SHOCKING Elimination and Twitter Couldn't Handle It". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  7. ^ Cooper, Michael (May 19, 2017). "Drag Race Fan Favorite and L.A. Native Valentina Explains Her Elimination". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  8. ^ "The truth about Valentina and Maskgate during 'RuPaul's Drag Race' episode 9". Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  9. ^ "Who won Miss Congeniality during the 'RuPaul's Drag Race' reunion?". Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  10. ^ VH1 (2018-02-20), Katya, Manila & Valentina Teach the Models How to Be Queens | America's Next Top Model, retrieved 2018-06-12{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "This Claws Recap Starring Drag Race Queens Is Everything". E! Online. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  12. ^ Lecaro, Lina (2017-11-21). "Drag Race Faves Get Their Own Shows on a New Streaming Network". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  13. ^ "La Vida De Valentina". WOW Presents Plus. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
  14. ^ "El arte Drag Queen tiene nombre: Valentina". Vogue México (in Spanish). 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  15. ^ Vogue (2017-06-23), How Valentina From RuPaul’s Drag Race Becomes Fabulous | Beauty Secrets | Vogue, retrieved 2018-06-12
  16. ^ "Valentina de RuPaul's Drag Race protagoniza campaña de Benito Santos". ELLE (in Mexican Spanish). 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  17. ^ "We Shot an Old Hollywood-Themed Editorial with Valentina | Preview.ph". Preview.ph. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  18. ^ "Alaska Thunderf--k Parodies 'Despacito' With a 'Drag Race' Spin". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  19. ^ "Lush Cosmetics Winks at Valentina's Infamous Drag Race Elimination". PAPER. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
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