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Russella
Russella (also known as The Fabulous Russella[1]) is a British actor, dancer, model, choreographer, singer and comedian often performing in character drag. CareerRussella is considered one of 200 cultural icons by i-D magazine[2] and was considered one of the UK's top 30 talents by The London Paper[3] Russella studied dance at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds where he met singer and actress Paloma Faith.[4] Russella later moved to London to live with Faith.[5] Russella appeared in the music video for Faith's debut single Stone Cold Sober.[6] Faith cites Russella as one of the inspirations for her style,[7] a style which is thought of as Dynasty Glam[1] and Alexis Carrington 1980s.[8] After moving to London, Russella worked in fashion PR for vintage clothes retailer Beyond Retro.[9] before meeting performance artist Jonny Woo whom he performed with regularly after winning a competition hosted by Woo[8][10] After a chance meeting at London nightclub Madame Jojo's, a then unknown French singer Héloïse Letissier befriended Russella and two lesser known drag queens who encouraged her to sing. After a period of suffering from depression, Letissier was inspired by the drag queens—to the extent that she named her pop persona Christine and the Queens in appreciation.[11] In an interview with the New Statesman, Letissier explains that whilst Russella taught her 'how to be a woman', the two have not remained in contact.[12] Lettessier claims that Russella is one of the drag queens who 'saved [her] life'[13] Modelling careerEven though Russella claims not to care about beauty "everyone is so obsessed with beauty and glamour right now; everyone wants to be perfect. I know I am perfect – I'm fabulous – but I don't particularly care. I just want to be looked at"[14] – he has modelled for award-winning photographers including Nick Knight,[2] Alice Hawkins[15] Jodi Bieber[16] and Gregoire A Meyer[17] as well as modelling for brands including Joseph Corré's A Child of the Jago,[18] and milliner Piers Atkinson.[19][20] Russella has also appeared in photo shoots for magazines including i-D magazine[2]Attitude Magazine,[21] The Independent Magazine,[15] The British Journal of Photography,[22] and Time Out[23] Acting careerRussella appeared as 'Terry Crystal' in Trevor Miller's film Riot on Redchurch Street which was released in 2012[24] He also featured on MTV's My Super Sweet 16 in January 2012 as guest choreographer. ComedyIn 2008 Russella launched 'London's Next Top Tranny' a successful competition to discover up and coming talent in East London [25] Russella was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year awards, 2012[26] hosted by Jo Brand In 2015 Russella entered Britain's Got Talent performing 'The Pancake Show', and expressed his desire to 'do' a cookery book, much to the dismay of Simon Cowell but with the full support of David Walliams who exclaimed 'I would buy it!'[citation needed] WritingRussella has contributed to online magazines including Societe Perrier[27] and the Sabotage Times[28] SingingRussella released his first comedic single on to iTunes in 2009 – titled – 'Too Fabulous'[29] with an accompanying video on YouTube which featured Sue Tilley Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. Too Fabulous was performed at Lovebox Festival in 2011 [30] Russella also appeared on episode 6 of Britain's Got Talent 2012 singing Wild Horses Filmography
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