Madame Cassandra Uzumaki LaQueer (formerly Madame LaQueer) is the stage name of Cassie Melendez, a Puerto Rican drag performer and

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions inc ...

who competed on

season 4 Season 4 may refer to: * "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock'' See also * * Season One (disambiguation) Season One may refer to: Albums * ''Season One'' (Suburban Legends album), 2004 * ''Season One'' (All Sons & Daughte ...

of '' RuPaul's Drag Race''. Originally from

Carolina Carolina may refer to: Geography * The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina ** North Carolina, a U.S. state ** South Carolina, a U.S. state * Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712 * Carolina, Alabama, a town in ...

, Melendez moved to

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, where she works in the cosmetic industry, performs in

drag shows A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women. Typically, a drag show involves performers singing or lip-synching to songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime or dancing. There might also be so ...

, and

livestreams Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

on Twitch. Madame LaQueer has continued to participate in ''Drag Race''-related projects, appearing in a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

by fellow contestant

Morgan McMichaels Morgan McMichaels (born May 28, 1981) is the stage name of Scottish-American drag performer Thomas White, best known as a contestant on the second season of the reality television competition ''RuPaul's Drag Race,'' as well as the third seaso ...

and attending

RuPaul's DragCon LA RuPaul's DragCon LA is an annual expo of drag culture held in Los Angeles billed as a "convention that celebrates 'the art of drag, queer culture and self-expression for all'", which debuted in 2015. Its sister event is RuPaul's DragCon NYC sta ...

as well as

season finale A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try to ...

tapings.

Early life and education

Melendez was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on October 5, 1981. She started doing drag on one of her birthdays as a teenager. She has a degree in

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as ana ...

Career

Melendez is a drag performer who competed as Madame LaQueer on

(2012) of the American television series '' RuPaul's Drag Race''. She won the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

-inspired drag wrestling challenge (tied with Chad Michaels) on the

second episode "Second Episode" is the second episode of the HBO television series ''The New Pope''. The episode was directed by series creator Paolo Sorrentino and was written by Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contrarello, and Stefano Bises. The episode takes place ...

, and placed tenth overall. She was eliminated from the competition in the fourth episode (" Queens Behind Bars"), after placing in the bottom two and losing a lip sync battle against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to "

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

" (2003) by

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

. Sarah Martindale included Madame LaQueer in '' Bustle'' 2015 list of twelve "plus size drag queens giving us all life".

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis News ...

's Brian Moylan ranked her number 102 out of the show's 113 contestants in 2017, and ''Instinct'' Ryan Shea ranked her 95 out of ''Drag Race'' 126 competitors in 2018. In 2017, Madame LaQueer participated in a

drag show A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women. Typically, a drag show involves performers singing or lip-synching to songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime or dancing. There might also be so ...

to raise funds for Puerto Rico residents impacted by the destructive Hurricane Maria. She has continued to participate in ''Drag Race''-related projects. In 2020, she appeared in the

for fellow contestant

's single "Ass Like Mine" (2020). Madame LaQueer has featured at ''Drag Race'' conventions, including

in 2022, and appeared in

tapings of the show. That year, she was the grand marshal of Bell's inaugural Southeast LA Pride Festival, in which she also performed. Outside of drag, Melendez has managed the beauty department of a drug store in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. As of 2017, she was a

in Santa Ana and continued to perform at VLVT Lounge.

Personal life

Melendez relocated to

, on April 20, 2013, after competing in ''Drag Race''. In January 2024, she came out as a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, and revealed her new names in and out of drag as Madame Cassandra Uzumaki LaQueer and Cassie, respectively. She

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

a variety of

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

games on Twitch. Madame LaQueer has had as many as seventeen "drag daughters" (or mentees), including

Lineysha Sparx The fifth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' began airing on January 28, 2013, with a 90-minute premiere episode. The winner of season five headlined Logo's Drag Race Tour featuring Absolut Vodka, won a one-of-a-kind trip, a lifetime supply of Color ...

, who competed on

season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of ''Drag Race''.

Filmography

Television

* '' RuPaul's Drag Race'' (

)

Web series

* '' Fashion Photo RuView'' (2017)

References

External links

*
Cassandra Melendez Lisboa
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

* * {{RuPaul's Drag Race 1980s births Living people 21st-century American women artists 21st-century Puerto Rican LGBT people 21st-century Puerto Rican women American transgender women American make-up artists Artists from California People from Carolina, Puerto Rico People from Orange County, California Puerto Rican drag queens Puerto Rican transgender people RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Transgender drag performers Transgender women entertainers