Pierre Leverne Dease (born July 12, 1982), better known by the stage name Nina Bo'nina Brown, is an American

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 ...

and television personality best known for starring on the ninth season of ''

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

'', where she placed sixth.

Early life

She was born on July 12, 1982. She was born and raised in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

before moving to

Riverdale, Georgia Riverdale is a city in Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 15,129 in 2020. Riverdale is a suburb just south of Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. History The ...

, where she currently resides.

Career

Early drag career

Nina Bo’nina Brown made her drag performance debut under the stage name 'Shameekah' in 2009. Before adopting her current name, she also performed under the stage names 'Beatta Bitchass' and 'Lady Guinavere'. In 2013, Brown began uploading makeup tutorials to her YouTube channel. These videos, along with uploads of her casting auditions for seasons

five 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

through eight, gained Brown prominence in the drag community. She was the makeup artist for some of

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 attentio ...

's looks for her "365 Days of Drag" project.

''RuPaul's Drag Race''

Brown auditioned for ''

'' seasons

through eight. She was announced as one of fourteen contestants competing on the ninth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' on February 2, 2017. The premier of season 9, Drag Race's first episode on VH1, aired on March 24, 2017. Brown entered the Werkroom in a mouse look made of paper with the entrance line, "I'm Nina, Bo'nina, Banana, Fofana, Osama Bin Laden Brown! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" She was the winner of the premiere episode's challenge (Miss Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent), guest judged by

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

. In episode five, Brown voiced her frustrations on not being cast as model

Blac Chyna Angela Renée White (born May 11, 1988), commonly known as Blac Chyna, is an American model, television personality, rapper, and socialite. She originally rose to prominence in 2010 as the stunt double for Nicki Minaj in the music video for t ...

for the Rusical challenge. She named her 2018 tour "I Shoulda Been Blac Chyna" after this moment. ''Drag Race'' alumni

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

also referenced this moment in a line of her song "Valentina". Brown placed in the bottom two three times, eliminating Aja and Valentina. She was eliminated on the makeover challenge episode after losing a lip sync of "

Cool for the Summer "Cool for the Summer" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato. It was released as the lead single from her fifth studio album ''Confident'' (2015) on July 1, 2015, by Hollywood Records and Island Records, and premiered on radio on the same dat ...

" by

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

against

Shea Couleé Jaren Kyei Merrell (born February 8, 1989), known professionally as Shea Couleé, is an American drag queen, singer, rapper, actor, podcaster, and fixture of the Chicago nightlife scene. Born in Warsaw, Indiana, they began their drag career in 2 ...

''Fashion Photo RuView''

Brown and

Vanessa Vanjie Mateo Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, sometimes known as Vanessa Vanjie, Miss Vanjie, or simply Vanjie, is the stage name of José Luis Cancel, an American drag performer known for competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and placing fifth on th ...

guest hosted four episodes of the WOWPresents internet series '' Fashion Photo RuView'' between November 2018 and January 2019.

''Rawview'' YouTube series

Since the premier of ''All Stars 4'' in 2018, Brown has self-published reviews of ''Rupaul's Drag Race'' and its international spin-off series on her

YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...

. Rawviews are generally segmented into general discussion, reading tips and comments, 'Beauty and Looks', and a live reaction to the respective episode. In addition to reviewing ''Drag Race'', Brown has created Rawviews for other shows including The ''Boulet Brothers' Dragula'' and

WOW Presents Plus WOW Presents Plus (also called World of Wonder Presents Plus or WOWPresents+) is a subscription-based streaming service owned by production company, World of Wonder. The subscription service was founded in November 2017, by Randy Barbato and ...

series ''Painted with Raven.''

MAC Cosmetics Campaign

In June 2018, she was sponsored by

MAC Cosmetics M A C Cosmetics is a Canadian cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto in 1984 by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. The company has been headquartered in New York City since becoming a subsidiary of Estée Lauder Companies in 1998. MAC is an acron ...

to review and promote the 2018

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the " Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, p ...

collection. She dressed as a humanoid zebra in the July 2018 issue of ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

'', modeling for

Gypsy Sport Gypsy Sport is an American fashion brand. The company is based in New York City and was founded in 2012 by its creative director Rio Uribe. History Uribe grew up in Koreatown, Los Angeles. After working for Balenciaga, rising to head of merchand ...

's Fall 2018 campaign. She modeled again for Gypsy Sport's Spring 2019 campaign.

Personal life

Dease is openly gay. Prior to filming season nine of

Drag Race Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

, he relocated to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. In '' RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked'', Dease stated that his audition for season nine was going to be his final attempt. According to Dease, being rejected from seasons five through eight played a role in his depression and anxiety.

Controversies

In 2017, Nina Bo’nina Brown received backlash for sending fan favorite Valentina home in a lipsync for your life on the 9th episode of the ninth season of ''

''. The elimination went down as one of the shows most controversial lipsyncs and placed in

Gay Times ''Gay Times'' (stylized in all caps), also known as ''GAY TIMES Magazine'' and as ''GT'', is a UK-based LGBTQ+ magazine established in 1984. Originally a magazine for gay and bisexual men, the company began including content for the LGBTQ+ comm ...

Top 10 Most Controversial RuPaul's Drag Race Eliminations.

Filmography

Television

Web series

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Nina Bonina 1982 births Living people African-American drag queens American drag queens YouTubers from Atlanta American gay entertainers African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) LGBTQ people from South Carolina LGBTQ YouTubers Gay Christians People from Columbia, South Carolina Nina Bo'nina Brown People from Riverdale, Georgia 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people Drag performers from South Carolina Drag performers from Atlanta