Naysha Lopez

Naysha Lopez is the stage name of drag performer and beauty pageant participant Fabian Rodriguez (born June 20, 1984), who won the 2013 Miss Continental competition and appeared on the eighth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

Rodriguez is a licensed cosmetologist. Naysha Lopez won the 2013 Miss Continental competition.

Naysha Lopez competed on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2016, after building a drag career in Puerto Rico and Chicago. She was the first queen eliminated, losing the lip sync battle to "Applause" by Lady Gaga against Laila McQueen. Naysha was quickly brought back to the show for ep. 3 after a lackluster performance on ep. 2 by McQueen and Dax ExclamationPoint resulted in their dual-elimination; Naysha subsequently placed in the bottom two again and lost another lipsync, this time against Chi Chi DeVayne to Blondie’s "Call Me", and became the second queen on the show to be eliminated twice (after season 7’s Trixie Mattel). Queerty's Timothy Allen said she was "one of the most beautiful queens to ever compete on the show". Similarly, Michael Cook of South Florida Gay News said she was "arguably one of the most stunningly gorgeous queens to ever stomp the runway" on the series, to date.

At RuPaul's DragCon LA convention in 2018, Naysha Lopez and Tempest DuJour tied for "fan favorite" in the “RuPaul's DragCon Pageant”, an event where "queens who were eliminated first on their seasons battled it out for the crowd", according to Patrick Crowley of Billboard magazine.

In 2021, Rodriguez was a runner-up in the Mr. Continental competition and won in the swimsuit category.

In 2022, Naysha Lopez was among a group of drag queens who performed on stage with Jennifer Lopez at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. In 2023, she returned and competed on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, ultimately being eliminated on episode 2 after she landed in the bottom alongside Kahanna Montrese. The “lip-sync assassin” of the episode, Pangina Heals, won in a lip-sync against challenge winner Jimbo to Cyndi Lauper’s “She Bop”, and, as she received the majority of the votes to be eliminated from the safe queens, Naysha was sent home, placing eleventh out of twelve queens.

Rodriguez has a working class background. He is from Chicago and, as of 2023, was living on the city’s Northwest Side and working in Lake View, also known as Boystown. She also lived in Belmont Cragin in 2016 and Elmwood Park, Illinois As Naysha Lopez, Rodriguez hosts a popular weekly viewing-party for RuPaul’s Drag Race, which is live-streamed from Chicago gay bar Roscoe’s Tavern on YouTube. Along with co-hosts Kara Mel and Batty Davis, the events feature 2-4 guests, usually other American and Canada’s Drag Race contestants as well as queens from the many international franchises. The group gives intermittent commentary during and after the episode, with behind-the-scenes information often being revealed.

Naysha Lopez is a member of the House of Hall, a drag family which includes fellow Drag Race contestants DiDa Ritz (season 4), Jaida Essence Hall (season 12 winner) and Kahmora Hall (season 13). She is currently dating Jason Hughes.

Singles

As featured artist

Television

Web series