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Q&A: 'RuPaul’s Drag Race' star Manila Luzon on why she turned to drag

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Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/life/07/26/manila-luzon.jpg"/><figcaption>&#x27;RuPaul’s Drag Race&#x27; star Manila Luzon</figcaption></figure></div><p>“When I was coming out, and I was having a very difficult time with accepting my new identity. I turned to drag and drag was able to kind of help me come out of my shell a lot faster. When I decided to come out, I was like, well, if I&#x27;m coming out of this closet, I&#x27;m going to bring some of my mom&#x27;s gowns with me. So I started doing drag and it really did help build the confidence that I needed to become the person I am today,” Manila Luzon said in an interview recently to promote her online series &quot;Jack Fire Drag Queen Summer Glamp.&quot;</p><p>“I’m really excited to be part of something that spreads the message of joy, acceptance, and celebration,” Luzon said.</p><p>Before we began, I asked what pronouns I should use for the interview. She was in drag during our Zoom chat. “You can use she or her. I know it&#x27;s confusing, but yeah, when I&#x27;m in drag, that&#x27;s how I go.” </p><p>She paused before adding, “I want all of them. That&#x27;s because I&#x27;m greedy, I want all the pronouns,” she said, laughing merrily.</p><p>What’s not a laughing matter to the drag performer is her fandom, whom she genuinely appreciates. Asked if she has any idea how she connected with them, she said: “I think authenticity really resonated with viewers, you know. I’m not just a character that was written by someone.”</p><p>Manila Luzon plays Firefly in the new season of DreamWorks animated series &quot;The Mighty Ones.&quot; She will also host the first Filipino drag queen competition series &quot;Drag Den.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y2dryG-vxaE?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div><strong>Q: How did the pandemic change you?</strong></div><p>Manila Luzon: There&#x27;s definitely that feeling of FOMO, fear of missing out, that I got to throw away because I was like, ‘Well, everyone in the whole world is kind of on a timeout.’ So it was nice to be able to be home and do a little self reflection and changing my priorities a little bit.</p><div><strong>Q: When you came up with Manila Luzon, was that your first choice or did you workshop different names?</strong></div><p>Manila Luzon was my very first choice when I decided to become a drag queen. Celebrating my Asian heritage has always been important to me. Growing up as a mixed-race child -- my mother&#x27;s from the Philippines; my father was born in Minnesota, he’s white -- my mother always made it a point to keep her heritage alive with me and my sister when we were growing up. So when I decided to choose the drag name, I named myself after my mother&#x27;s home place because my mother is one of my biggest heroes, she&#x27;s a wonderful woman she&#x27;s always fashionable, and she&#x27;s very smart and she&#x27;s a feminist, and I&#x27;ve always looked up to her.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/slbFjgQlE6o?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div><strong>Q: How would you describe growing up in Minnesota as a Filipino-American?</strong></div><p>I don&#x27;t know how to really describe it because I feel like I have been raised very uniquely because of my mixed race. Every week we would meet, we had a cultural society of Filipino-Americans in Minnesota that would meet every week. And we would have a potluck and eat Filipino food and the kids would get to learn the traditional Filipino dance tinikling.</p><div><strong>Q: When you&#x27;re out of drag, do people recognize you still?</strong></div><p>Surprisingly people do recognize me. Even when I&#x27;m outside wearing a mask, I get recognized.</p><div><strong>Q: How does it feel to get that validation?</strong></div><p>You know, I have to say that it&#x27;s kind of amazing because especially as an Asian-American, where people aren&#x27;t used to seeing us represented very often in the media. So the fact that someone can recognize me without my usual look of being in full drag and with a mask on is great because it means that people are noticing our community a lot more.</p><div><strong>Q: What do you think made them connect with you?</strong></div><p>I have to say, um, I have absolutely no idea. (laughs) I just went on to reality TV and I was just being myself or a version of myself wearing lots of glitter and makeup and wigs, but still myself. And I think that&#x27;s one thing that&#x27;s really nice about my experience of being on reality TV is that I got to just go on TV and be myself. And I think that that authenticity really resonated with viewers, you know. I’m not just a character that was written by someone.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qmtR2C7R0So?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div><strong>Q: Was doing drag something that you started organically when you realized one day that that is what you wanted to do, or was it a slow blossoming?</strong></div><p>It was slow, a slow growth. I have to say I&#x27;ve always been really interested in theater, dramatics. I&#x27;ve always considered myself a visual artist so I&#x27;m always interested in fashion and with makeup and hair design. So when I was coming out, and I was having a very difficult time with accepting my new identity, I turned to drag and drag was able to kind of help me come out of my shell a lot faster. When I decided to come out I was like well if I&#x27;m coming out of this closet I&#x27;m going to bring some of my mom&#x27;s gowns with me. So I started doing drag and it really did help build the confidence that I needed to become my own today.</p><div><strong>Q: Why do you think that Filipinos are so great at drag?</strong></div><p>Well, I think it’s — I mean not to sound biased or anything but Filipino people are just beautiful people, so throw lash and lipstick on us and we look amazing! (laughs) I think that Filipino people in general are just these warm, loving people who people are attracted to. And if not, then they’ll probably serve a really good dish of chicken adobo.</p><p>Plus we sing!</p><p>Or if they can’t sing, they can just be like me and lip-synch!</p>

<p>Manila Luzon recently promoted her online series "Jack Fire Drag Queen Summer Glamp."</p>

Manila Luzon recently promoted her online series "Jack Fire Drag Queen Summer Glamp."

Q&A: 'RuPaul’s Drag Race' star Manila Luzon on why she turned to drag

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Q&A: 'RuPaul’s Drag Race' star Manila Luzon on why she turned to drag

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN North America News Bureau

Published July 27, 2021 04:19 PM PHT

Read More:

Manila Luzon

drag

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Drag Den

Jack Fire Drag Queen Summer Glamp

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