Richardson was raised in Roanoke, Virginia. He began wearing dresses and makeup at age 12, and sewing at age 14.[1] Richardson came out as gay at a young age, and was performing as India Ferrah by age 18.[2] His drag name came from his brother's boyfriend, who also served as his drag mother.[3]
Career
India Ferrah has worked as a drag entertainer and costume designer,[1] and was named Miss Gay Roanoke in 2006.[2] She won the Heart of Ohio All American Goddess Pageant in 2008.[4] She performed regularly at the Piranha Nightclub in Las Vegas, as of 2014,[5][6] and has co-hosted pageants.[7]
RuPaul's Drag Race franchise
India Ferrah in 2019
India Ferrah competed on the third season (2011) of RuPaul's Drag Race.[8] She was the season's youngest contestant, at 23 years old.[1] India Ferrah was picked up without permission by fellow contestant Mimi Imfurst during their lip sync to Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" during the fourth episode;[9][10] the incident has been described as "infamous",[11][12] and prompted RuPaul to enforce a new rule: "drag is not a contact sport".[13]
Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly called the exchange "one of the most entertaining few seconds" in the show's history to date.[14] In 2013, Philadelphia magazine's Alexander Kacala said the incident was "probably the worst lip-sync ever" in his list of the "5 All-Time Best RuPaul's Drag Race Lip-Sync Battles".[15] Timothy Allen of Queerty included the battle in his 2014 list of the series' "most shocking and controversial moments",[16] and The Guardian's Brian Moylan included the lip sync in his 2017 overview of the "10 best moments of TV's most fabulous reality show".[17] India Ferrah was eliminated by Stacy Layne Matthews in the fifth episode,[5] placing tenth.[18] She had a "public breakup" with drag and criticized the series immediately following her appearance, but recovered from the experience and worked to redeem her image.[19]
Kevin O'Keeffe of Mic.com ranked India Ferrah number 104 in his 2016 "definitive ranking" of all 113 RuPaul's Drag Race contestants.[27]Thrillist contributor Brian Moylan ranked her number 111 in his similar list for 2017, and said she had "one of the worst drag names of all time".[28] In 2018, Instinct's Ryan Shea ranked India Ferrah number 112 in his "definitive list" of all 126 contestants, writing, "Sweet queen, but only remembered for being lifted up by Mimi Imfurst."[29] In 2019, season 11 contestant Kahanna Montrese named India Ferrah as her "favorite underrated" alumna.[30]
Personal life
Richardson lived with his husband in Dayton, Ohio, during the early 2010s.[1][8] He lived in Las Vegas, as of 2014.[5][6] He has a brother who is also gay.[2]
Discography
As featured artist
Title
Year
Album
"I'm in Love"[31] (with the Cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season 5)
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