Adam Daniel Guerra (born June 30, 1984), known by his stage name Venus D-Lite, is an American drag performer, television personality and

Madonna impersonator A Madonna impersonator is an entertainer who impersonates American singer-songwriter Madonna. Professional Madonna impersonators have existed at least since the mid-1980s, and sometimes are sorted as "tribute acts". As an established artist, M ...

. He gained recognition for competing on the third 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 went viral with his appearance in a ''

My Strange Addiction ''My Strange Addiction'' is an American documentary television series that premiered on TLC on December 29, 2010. The pilot was broadcast on May 5, 2010. The series focuses on people with unusual compulsive behaviors. These range from eating spec ...

'' episode called "Addicted To Being Madonna" (2015).

Early life and education

Guerra was raised in Los Angeles, California. He attended

San Gabriel High School San Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a public high school located in Los Angeles County, California and operated by the Alhambra Unified School District. It is almost entirely in the city limits of Alhambra with a small portion in the city limits of ...

and then

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a public community college in Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Art and Associate of Science degrees, cert ...

, where he majored in business. He was also pursuing a degree in

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

from

Los Angeles Community College The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) is the community college district serving Los Angeles, California, and some of its neighboring cities and certain unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Its headquarters are in Downtown Los ...

, but dropped out in order to pursue a career in drag full-time.

Career

Guerra started performing as D-Lite (in a

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

impersonation) on August 5, 2002 and made his first television appearance on ''

The Ricki Lake Show ''The Ricki Lake Show'' (also known as ''Ricki'' or ''The New Ricki Lake Show'') was an American first-run syndicated talk show hosted by Ricki Lake. The series also marked her return to talk television after leaving the genre in 2004. After sev ...

'' in 2003. His drag name came from a combination of “Venus” (taken from “Venus Was Her Name”, a song by

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in 1967 in The Hague. It was part of the music movement in the Netherlands that was generally known by the name Nederbeat. The band had a number of hits throughout the counterculture movement during ...

), and “D-Lite”, a name thought of by Guerra's then-boyfriend and makeup artist of three years. A fan of Madonna, he spent over $175,000 on 19 surgeries to look like her for his performances. He was announced as a contestant on ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season 3 on January 24, 2011. He was eliminated in the first episode, 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 thr ...

to " The Right Stuff" by

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resigne ...

against

Shangela Chantize Darius Jeremy Pierce, better known as Shangela Laquifa Wadley or mononymously as Shangela (born November 22, 1980), is an American drag queen, reality television personality and actor best known for competing on ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. S ...

, and placed thirteenth. He did however make a guest appearance on the first episode of the fourth season. In 2014, he made an appearance on '' Botched'' to get

rhinoplasty Rhinoplasty ( grc, ῥίς, rhī́s, nose + grc, πλάσσειν, plássein, to shape), commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the nose. There are two typ ...

surgery. He was in an episode of ''

'' in 2015 to discuss his Madonna obsession. He was also with fellow ''Drag Race'' alumni in an episode of ''

Skin Wars ''Skin Wars'' is a body painting reality competition hosted by Rebecca Romijn that premiered on the American pay-television channel Game Show Network on August 6, 2014. Contestants on the series perform challenges containing body painting each ep ...

''. On February 5, 2015, ''Drag Race'' winner

Bianca Del Rio Roy R. Haylock (born June 27, 1975), better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Since her time on ''Drag R ...

featured Venus in an episode of her WOWPresents web series "Really Queen?" where she made jokes about her. Venus appeared in a reaction video on February 25 by WOW making jokes back at Del Rio. Aside from Madonna, he has previously impersonated

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conra ...

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

, and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

Music

Guerra released his first single "I'm Not Madonna" featuring singer

Jenn Cuneta Jenn Cuneta is a Filipino American singer based in New York. Debuting first as J. CEE in 1993, she changed to Jenn Cuneta in 2005. Her 2005 solo single "Come Rain Come Shine", which samples "Silly Love Songs" by Paul McCartney and Wings, reached ...

on July 7, 2014, on a remix EP. He collaborated with fellow ''Botched'' guests Toby Sheldon and Kitty Jay for the single "The Plastics", credited as a band of the same name.

Personal life

Guerra is gay. In 2021, he came out as HIV-positive in an interview with Joseph Shepherd. In June 2022, Venus made an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post admitting that he was

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d by a fellow Drag Race alum in 2013, one described as a “popular queen”, but refused to name the rapist.

Filmography

Television

Web series

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* {{RuPaul's Drag Race 1984 births Living people American drag queens Gay entertainers LGBT people from California Orange Coast College alumni People from Los Angeles RuPaul's Drag Race contestants People with HIV/AIDS