Yuhua Hamasaki is the stage name of Yuhua Ou, a Chinese-born 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 ...

, singer, actor and reality television personality who came to international attention 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 ...

''.

Early life

Ou was born on March 1, 1990, in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. They moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

when they were seven and started doing drag on the

club kid The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to ...

scene under the name Yuhua. They later added Hamasaki after

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

. Ou holds a business management degree from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

Career

Before ''Drag Race'', Hamasaki was one of several drag queens appearing in

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

's performance of "Swish Swish" on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' in May 2017. She also designed outfits for other ''Drag Race'' alum prior to her appearance on the series, including Aquaria,

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 ...

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantbas ...

, Aja,

Jiggly Caliente Bianca Castro (born November 29, 1980), commonly known as Jiggly Caliente, is a Filipino-American drag performer, singer, and actress best known for competing on the fourth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag R ...

Alexis Michelle Alexander J. Michaels (born October 16, 1983), stage name Alexis Michelle, is an American drag queen and singer who came to international attention on the ninth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. As of 2019, she stars in the TLC transformational ...

and

Monét X Change Monét X Change (born February 19, 1990), stage name of Kevin A. Bertin, is an American drag queen, singer, podcaster, and reality television personality. She is known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10), tenth season of ''RuPaul' ...

. She has won multiple pageant titles including Miss Fire Island, Miss Fire Island All Stars, Miss Stonewall, and Miss Asia NYC. Hamasaki was announced as one of fourteen contestants for the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' in 2018. Due to the popularity of Monét X Change's sponge dress in episode one, Hamasaki created her own sponge dress for sale, and donated the proceeds to Callen-Lorde. She was eliminated in the third 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 "

Celebrity Skin ''Celebrity Skin'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1998, in the United States on DGC Records and internationally on Geffen Records. It was the last album released by the band before the ...

" by

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

against Mayhem Miller. After ''Drag Race'', Hamasaki appeared with

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Pri ...

in the music video for "Bruised" by Mila Jam. She appeared in a commercial for VH1's ''It Gets Better'' project, supporting LGBTQ youth. She was also in the video for

Trinity the Tuck Ryan A. Taylor, known professionally as Trinity "The Tuck" Taylor or just Trinity the Tuck (born December 10, 1985),Taylor in is an American drag queen and recording artist best known for competing on the ninth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race' ...

's "I Call Shade" in February 2019. Hamasaki received notoriety from her self-published series ''Bootleg Fashion Photo RuView'' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

based on the WOWPrsents internet series ''Fashion Photo RuView'' with

Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

and

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

. She reviewed the runway looks of the All-Stars four cast starting on December 4, 2018 with Biblegirl666. She started covering the season eleven looks on February 22, 2019 with

Blair St. Clair Blair St. Clair (born May 16, 1995) is an American drag queen, singer, and hair stylist, known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10), tenth season of the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', as well as the RuPaul's Dra ...

. Other guests on the series have included

Jaymes Mansfield James Jeffrey Wirth (born February 19, 1990), better known as Jaymes Mansfield, is an American drag queen and TV personality, best known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 9), ninth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and playing the par ...

Cynthia Lee Fontaine Cynthia Lee Fontaine is the stage name of Carlos Díaz Hernández, a Puerto Rican drag performer and reality television personality from Austin, Texas, best known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8), eighth and RuPaul's Drag Race ( ...

, Dusty Ray Bottoms,

Jessica Wild José David Sierra, better known as Jessica Wild (born June 10, 1980), is a Puerto Rican drag queen, professional make-up artist, and reality television personality, best known as a contestant on the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Bi ...

Laganja Estranja Jay Evan Jackson, known professionally as Laganja Estranja (born December 28, 1988) is an American choreographer and drag queen based in Los Angeles. Laganja competed on the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', finishing in eighth place. She ...

, Jiggly Caliente, Vivacious, Alexis Michelle,

Phi Phi O'Hara Jaremi Lee Carey (born Jeremy Lee Carey; October 10, 1985) is an American actor, streamer, singer, cosplay artist, and former drag performer who performed under the name Phi Phi O'Hara. In the O'Hara persona, Carey came to international attention ...

, Trinity the Tuck and

Honey Davenport James Heath-Clark (born August 13, 1985), known professionally as Honey Davenport, is an American drag performer, singer, songwriter, actor and activist. Davenport was a longtime fixture of the New York City nightlife scene and came to interna ...

. She filled in for an episode of the actual ''Fashion Photo RuView'' on November 24, 2018 with

Eureka O'Hara Eureka, also known as Eureka O'Hara and Eureka!, is the stage name of Eureka D. Huggard (born August 26, 1990), an American drag queen and reality television personality. Eureka rose to prominence competing on the ninth and tenth seasons of ''Ru ...

. Hamasaki was a guest at the 2019

Life Ball The Life Ball in Vienna is the biggest Charitable organization, charity event in Europe supporting people with HIV or AIDS. The event is organized by the nonprofit organization AIDS LIFE, which was founded in 1992 by Gery Keszler and Torgom Petros ...

, alongside

Alaska Thunderfuck Justin Andrew Honard (born March 6, 1985) is an American drag queen and recording artist known by the stage name Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, primarily known mononymously as Alaska, from Erie, Pennsylvania. She is best known as the runner-up on th ...

. In June 2019, Hamasaki was one of 37 queens to be featured on the cover of

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

. She has also been described as a "seamstress, dancer and comedian."

Music

In 2018, Hamasaki released her first single "The Ankh Song" named after her runway look from episode one resembling an

Ankh Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene. This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphate ...

, noted by the judges. A music video was released on April 5, 2018.

Personal life

Yuhua is

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and uses pronouns interchangeably. She resides in New York City.

Filmography

Television

Music videos

Web series

Discography

Singles

References

External links

*
Yuhua Ou
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, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamasaki, Yuhua 1990 births Living people Actors from Guangzhou American actors of Chinese descent American LGBT people of Asian descent American musicians of Chinese descent American non-binary actors American YouTubers Asian-American drag queens Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese gay actors LGBT YouTubers Chinese non-binary people Musicians from Guangzhou Non-binary drag performers Pace University alumni People's Republic of China LGBT people

Yuhua Hamasaki Yuhua Hamasaki is the stage name of Yuhua Ou, a Chinese-born American drag queen, singer, actor and reality television personality who came to international attention on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Early life Ou was born on M ...