Shangela Laquifa Wadley

Shangela Laquifa Wadley, (born November 22, 1981) born Darius Jeremy Pierce and usually mononymously addressed as Shangela, is an American drag queen, reality television personality and actor best known for competing on RuPaul's Drag Race. Shangela was the first contestant eliminated in season two, and returned as a surprise contestant in the series' third season, placing sixth. She returned once again for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars where she finished in third/fourth place alongside winner of the first season, BeBe Zahara Benet. Shangela has also made several television appearances and regularly performs across the United States and Canada. In June 2019, New York magazine published the results from their panel of judges and writers which ranked her in the top twenty Drag Race superstars. Due to her role in A Star Is Born, Shangela became the first queen to walk the Oscars red carpet in drag.

Pierce grew up in Paris, Texas, the only child of a mother in the United States Army who traveled frequently for her work. He was raised by an extended family, including a grandfather who worked as a ranch hand at pig and cattle farms. He was a male cheerleader in high school, and began dressing in drag for creative projects for English classes.

Early career

Shangela emerged as Pierce's drag persona in January 2009. Pierce had choreographed a three-person drag act to "Single Ladies" for a sober charity event in Los Angeles, and when one of the performers cancelled, the other two asked him to fill in. The club's promoter was so impressed with Shangela's performance that he offered to book him for the following week. In 2010, Shangela was crowned in the first California Entertainer of the Year pageant; the first alternate was Chad Michaels.

RuPaul's Drag Race

After five months of performing in Los Angeles, Shangela was selected to join the cast for season two of RuPaul's Drag Race, but was eliminated in the first episode due to her lack of experience and poor sewing ability. She later reauditioned and was invited back for season three, where she made it to the top five (although she placed sixth overall due to the return of Carmen Carrera one episode later). She also made cameo appearances in the show's fourth-season premiere and the "Snatch Game" episode of All Stars season two.

Shangela eventually competed on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, making her the first queen to compete on three separate seasons of the show. She made it to the season's finale and was considered a frontrunner for the crown, but was controversially eliminated after only receiving one vote from Thorgy Thor among the jury of previously eliminated queens. She subsequently tied third/fourth place with season-one winner Bebe Zahara Benet.

Shangela competed in the television special RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular.

Other television and film appearances

Shangela appeared in Toddlers & Tiaras, in which he coached his 9-year-old goddaughter to compete in a beauty pageant. Other appearances include episodes of Glee, Bones,Community, Terriers, Dance Moms, 2 Broke Girls, Detroit 187 and The Mentalist, as well as a commercial for Orbitz with fellow Drag Race contestants Manila Luzon and Carmen Carrera. Shangela and other RuPaul's Drag race contestants including Trixie Mattel, Tammie Brown, and Manila Luzon, appeared in a Food and Drug Administration campaign against smoking.

Pierce had a non-drag role in a short film, Body of a Barbie (2011), which aired on BET and was a Top 7 National Finalist on the network's Lens on Talent series. In 2013, Shangela was featured in an ad for Facebook Home.

Shangela had a role in the 2016 comedy film Hurricane Bianca, directed by Matt Kugelman and starring fellow Drag Race contestants Bianca Del Rio and Willam Belli. He returned to reprise this role in the 2018 sequel, Hurricane Bianca 2: From Russia with Hate.

In 2018, he was the commentator for the U.S. for the Eurovision Song Contest held in Lisbon, Portugal with Ross Matthews for Logo TV. The same year, he had a supporting role as a drag queen emcee in the film A Star Is Born, alongside Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, and Willam Belli.

Music

On August 23, 2011, he released his first single "Call Me Laquifa." His second single, "Werqin' Girl," was released on 7 August 2012. The music video for "Werqin' Girl" features appearances by Abby Lee Miller, Jenifer Lewis, and Yara Sofia. On March 15, 2018, the day of the All Stars 3 finale, Shangela released a new single titled "Pay Me" which features producer Ryan Skyy.

In 2013, Shangela appeared in the music video "Gone With the Wind Fabulous" by Kenya Moore. In 2018, Shangela featured on both the vocals and in the music video for Doll Hairs, a single released by Todrick Hall as part of his Forbidden visual album.

In 2019, singer Ariana Grande featured Shangela's voice on the song "NASA" from her fifth studio album Thank U, Next.

Other ventures

Shangela is known for the catchphrase, "Halleloo", which the Los Angeles Times considered one of the "2010 Top Terms We Learned on Reality Television." Shangela's comedic persona is Laquifa, who entered the limelight during the eighth episode of season three, in which he won the "Ru Ha Ha" competition. Since being on Drag Race, Shangela has performed comedy as Laquifa in Downelink.com's "One Night Stand Up!" on LOGO. Shangela has performed in the Drag Queens of Comedy showcase alongside legends Lady Bunny, Jackie Beat and Coco Peru, as well as the Werq the World tour alongside several fellow Drag Race alumni.

Shangela was featured as one of OUT Magazine's "Most Compelling People of 2011".

Pierce has also been active in AIDS awareness and activism. After being featured in a Gilead Sciences ad titled "Red Ribbon Runway" with fellow Drag Race co-stars Carmen Carrera, Delta Work, Manila Luzon and Alexis Mateo, the dress he was featured wearing was auctioned off by Logo in commemoration of World AIDS Day. Proceeds from the auction were donated to the National Association of People with AIDS. On August 14, 2013, Shangela, along with fellow drag queens Detox, Morgan McMichaels, Courtney Act, Willam Belli, and Raven, were featured in the lyric video for Lady Gaga's single "Applause".

Pierce is openly gay, and is of African-American and Saudi Arabian descent.

RuPaul's Drag Race season-five contestant Alyssa Edwards is Shangela's drag mother.

Singles

Guest appearances