Arantxa Castilla-La Mancha is the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

of Arantxa Méndez García, a Spanish

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

er, and

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

Early life

Méndez was born on 1 December 1997 in

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

, in the municipality of

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

in south-west

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. She was raised in the small town of Jerez de los Caballeros. She claims that she experienced discrimination at an early age due to her

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

and

gender expression Gender expression (or gender presentation) is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender in a particular cultural context, typically understood in terms of masculinity and femininity. Gender expr ...

. Her favourite television series as a child was ''

Hannah Montana ''Hannah Montana'' is an American teen sitcom created by Michael Poryes, Rich Correll, and Barry O'Brien that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between March2006 and January2011. The series centers on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cy ...

,'' the premise of which resonated with her and consequently served as an inspiration for both her drag name and her aesthetic. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , ) is a Spanish daily newspaper founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan. It has its headquarters in Barcelona and is Catalonia's leading newspaper. Despite being mostly distributed in Catalonia, ...

'', Méndez claimed that there was no connection between herself and the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

of Castilla-La Mancha other than a penchant for

manchego Manchego (, ) is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the Sheep milk, milk of sheep of the Manchega breed. It is aged between 60 days and 2 years. Manchego has a firm and compact consistency and a buttery texture, often containin ...

cheese, stating that a drag queen's job is to lie in order to create an illusion. Méndez moved to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

at the age of 17 to study Audiovisual Communication. During her first year of studying, she was involved in class film project in which she portrayed a woman, claiming that this was something that she wanted to continue doing. It was also during her early years in Madrid that she experienced drag culture for the first time by watching a drag show hosted by Supremme de Luxe.

Career

In 2021, Méndez competed in the first season of the reality television series, ''

Drag Race España ''Drag Race España'' (sometimes called ''Drag Race Spain'') is a Spanish reality competition television series, produced by Atresmedia Televisión in collaboration with Buendía Estudios and executive produced by World of Wonder. It is the Spa ...

.'' After the season aired, she joined the national tour ''Gran Hotel de las Reinas'' along with other participants from the series. The tour was hosted by Supremme de Luxe and vedette

Paca la Piraña Francisca Aracil Cáceres (born June 1, 1962), professionally known as Paca la Piraña, is a Spanish actress and vedette. She identifies as a transsexual woman. Career La Piraña's began her career in the 1980s, when she performed in nightcl ...

. Following her appearance on ''Drag Race'', she has worked as an ambassador of the high-heel race at Madrid Pride, and is an hostess for Jerez de los Caballeros Pride, a pride event in her hometown. On 13 January 2024, it was announced that she would be one of the contestants on the second series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World''. She was crowned Miss Congeniality in the finale episode of the season. Méndez also hosts a podcast with fellow drag queen Hugáceo Crujiente, ''Mientras Te Hacías El Eyeliner (While You Were Doing Your Eyeliner)''.

Personal life

Despite originally identifying as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

, Méndez came out as a trans woman in December 2022. As of 2024 she was based in

Controversy

During her appearance on ''Drag Race España'', Méndez received strong criticism from viewers, which led to her receiving abuse and

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

s through social media. In 2022, both she and Hugáceo Crujiente were involved in a public argument with drag queen

Sagittaria ''Sagittaria'' is a genus of about 303. Sagittaria Linnaeus
''Flora of Nort ...

, who accused both of treating their fans poorly, not having work, and for poor performance in their shows.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arantxa Castilla-La Mancha Living people 21st-century Spanish LGBTQ people 21st-century Spanish women Drag Race España contestants Spanish drag queens Spanish transgender entertainers Spanish transgender women Transgender drag performers Transgender women entertainers People from Badajoz Drag performers from Madrid 1997 births