Miz Cracker (born April 19, 1984) is the stage name of Maxwell Elias Heller, an American

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

and television personality. He is best known for placing fifth on the tenth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'' and for being a runner-up on the fifth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars''.

Early life

Maxwell Heller was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. His parents were former members of the

Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

community. He also has a sister, Sylvia. Heller left Seattle at eighteen years old. He attended The Evergreen State College, designing his own major. In 2011, while in her mid-20s, Miz Cracker met

Bob the Drag Queen Christopher D. Caldwell, better known as Bob the Drag Queen and Caldwell Tidicue, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, activist, musician, and reality television personality. He is best known for winning the eighth season of ''RuPaul's D ...

. As he later wrote, "I was staggering home through a blizzard one night when I spotted a very handsome oversized man hauling a very broken oversized bookshelf down the street." He helped Bob the Drag Queen move the bookshelf into his apartment, where he found "...diva’s accessories, wigs and gowns draped across the threadbare furniture, glittering crowns and bras hanging from a dusty chandelier." The two developed a friendship and Bob became his drag mother, which included attending her drag shows, providing feedback, and helping Miz Cracker gain confidence as a performer. Miz Cracker participated in marches for equality in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

with Bob the Drag Queen.

Career

Heller started his career as Brianna Cracker, but, when another performer took the name, he donned the name “Miss Cracker”. However, when trying to make a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

account with that name, it denied “Miss” as an appropriate first name, so Heller changed it to “Miz”. Miz Cracker was announced as one of fourteen contestants competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' on February 22, 2018. She won the episode ten main challenge after doing a makeover on

Chester See Chester See (born Chester Lionel Watch April 20, 1983) is an American YouTuber, singer and actor. He is best known for his YouTube videos, which have garnered over 207 million views, as of September 2017. He appeared as Stacee Jaxx in '' Rock o ...

. She was eliminated an episode later after losing a

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

to "

Nasty Girl Nasty Girl may refer to: *''The Nasty Girl'', a 1990 film directed by Michael Verhoeven * "Nasty Girl" (Vanity 6 song), 1982 written by Prince, later re-released by Inaya Day * "Nasty Girl" (Destiny's Child song), 2002 * "Nasty Girl" (Nitty song) ...

" by

Vanity 6 Vanity 6 was a short lived American female vocal trio that gained popularity in the early 1980s. They were protégés of musician Prince. Led by singer Vanity, they are known for their song " Nasty Girl." History Formation In 1981, Prince, hi ...

to eventual runner-up

Kameron Michaels Dane Young (born July 23, 1986), known professionally as Kameron Michaels, is an American drag performer who came to international attention after competing on the tenth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race''. Originally from Columbia, Tennessee, ...

. She has a homemade web series, ''Review with a Jew'', where she recaps episodes of ''Drag Race'', starting from ''All Stars'' season three. The series debuted on January 31, 2018. Alexandra Pucciarelli from ''Alma'' wrote the series is "always hilarious." Miz Cracker was featured with alumni

Tammie Brown Tammie Brown is the stage name of Keith Glen Schubert (born September 15, 1980), an American drag performer, reality television personality, and recording artist. Brown was a fixture in the Southern California drag scene before appearing on the ...

, Ginger Minj, Jasmine Masters, Shea Couleé, and Eureka O'Hara for the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' web series "''Spillin' the Tea''" on June 13, 2018. She was introduced as the host of her own WoWpresents web series, "''JewTorials''" on June 26, 2018. She has also appeared three times on the ''

Bon Appétit ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center ...

'' YouTube channel cooking with '' Carla Lalli Music''. Miz Cracker has written regularly for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' since 2014, and in 2016, she received the

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to unbiased coverage of LGBTQ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, edu ...

's Excellence in Column Writing award. Miz Cracker was nominated with Aquaria for the "Competition Contestant of 2018" for the 2018

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls unt ...

. In early 2019, she finished her one-woman show called "It's Time", which she performed across the UK. ''Billboard'' stated, "The show touched on her struggle with addiction during her early 20s, with a little bit of "Cracker-brand" comedy sprinkled in." Miz Cracker was added to the ''Drag Race'' "Haters Roast: The Shady Tour" comedy tour with other alumnae in 2019. On May 8, 2020, Miz Cracker was announced as one of ten drag queens who would compete in the fifth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars''. She won three main challenges, on episodes 4, 6 and 7, and was in the bottom for the snatch game on episode 5. She placed as a runner-up, together with

Jujubee Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a small ...

. In 2020, Miz Cracker launched a podcast titled ''She's a Woman'' with Studio71.

Music

Miz Cracker worked with Alexis Michelle, Lady Sinagaga, and Sherry Vine to create "Jappy", a cover of

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

Personal life

Heller is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He resides in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, and has a

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

. Before ''Drag Race'', he worked as a school teacher in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣� ...

and speaks Wolof. He held a fundraiser for LGBT rights in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

in 2016. Heller was robbed of his money and ID card while on tour in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, on August 10, 2018.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Filmography

Television

Web series

References

External links

* * , ''Cosmopolitan'' (March 18, 2018) * , BuzzFeedVideo (April 3, 2018) {{RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Living people 1984 births American drag queens American people of Russian-Jewish descent American YouTubers Jewish American entertainers LGBT Jews LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT people from Washington (state) American LGBT writers LGBT YouTubers People from Harlem Miz Cracker Miz Cracker 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Evergreen State College alumni