Pan Pan Narkprasert ( th, ปันปัน นาคประเสริฐ; born July 22, 1988), known as Pangina Heals, is a Thai drag queen and judge on ''
Drag Race Thailand'', who later went on to compete on ''
RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World'' (2022). She has been described as one of the most popular drag performers in Asia, and is often called the
RuPaul of Thailand. Narkprasert founded the Bangkok drag venue, House of Heals.
Early life and education
Narkprasert was born to a Thai father and a Taiwanese mother in Bangkok. He was a student at
Shrewsbury International School
Shrewsbury International School Bangkok ( th, โรงเรียนนานาชาติโชรส์เบอรี กรุงเทพ, ) is a coeducational British international school in Charoeng Krung, Bang Kho Laem District, Bangk ...
and
Harrow International School Bangkok. He was bullied by his peers and battled depression and bulimia.
He later lived in Los Angeles for four years, where he studied fine arts at the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
.
After graduating, Narkprasert returned to spend a year navigating Bangkok’s art scene. He entered his first competition, a
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
lookalike competition, in 2010 and won a trip to New York City to see her perform in concert.
Eventually, with the help of local drag star Sira Soda, he learned how to dress and put on makeup.
Career
A well-known host in Thailand's drag circuit, Pangina Heals hosts a weekly LGBTQI+ night in Bangkok at the upmarket cabaret bar Maggie Choo's.
Narkprasert began Heals' performances as a dancer and is known for performing in the
waacking style.
Heals made her acting debut after joining the main cast of the play, ''
The Lisbon Traviata
''The Lisbon Traviata'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 1989. It revolves around several opera fans, especially of the opera singer Maria Callas, and their gay relationships.
Overview
The play focuses on two of ...
'', written by American playwright
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter.
Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...
and produced by English-language multicultural theatre group Culture Collective Studio, where she portrayed Mendy.
Heals opened for Tube Gallery's 20th anniversary fashion show. She is a part of the lineup for Melbourne’s Drag Exp in 2020. In June 2021, she hosted ''Queer Got Talent'', an online talent competition.
Narkprasert is the creator and owner of House of Heals, a drag bar in Bangkok.
Television
As Pangina Heals, Narkprasert participated on Thailand's version of Lip Sync Battle and won the competition with a rendition of Lady Gaga's "
Telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
".
She competed and won ''T Battle'', a Thai reality show where 13 local gender benders competed in singing, dancing and impersonation challenges.
She also competed on ''Thailand Dance Now''.
In 2018, she was announced to co-host ''
Drag Race Thailand'', a Thai spin-off 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 ...
'', produced by
Kantana Group.
In January 2022, she was announced as one of the nine contestants on ''
RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World'',
making her the first ever contestant to have judged an iteration of the show before entering the competition. In the premiere episode, Pangina Heals won the episode after beating
Jimbo
Jimbo is a diminutive form of the given name James. It is also a Japanese surname, and it means state or province in Swahili. It may refer to:
Given name or nickname
* Jimbo (drag queen), Canadian drag queen
* Jimbo Aquino (born 1985), Filipin ...
to a lipsync to "
Say You'll Be There
"Say You'll Be There" is a song recorded by the English girl group Spice Girls for their debut studio album ''Spice'' (1996). The Spice Girls co-wrote the song with Eliot Kennedy after the group left Heart Management in 1995. Later, Jonathan ...
" by
The Spice Girls
The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and ...
, and chose to eliminate
Lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
from the competition. In Episode 3, Pangina won for the second time after beating Dutch contestant
Janey Jacké
Justin Mooijer (born 9 April 1992), known by the stage name Janey Jacké, is a Dutch drag queen, actor and presenter, most known for competing in the first season of '' Drag Race Holland'' (2020) and a spin-off season known as '' RuPaul's Drag ...
in a lipsync performance to "
We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)" by the
Vengaboys
Vengaboys () are a Dutch Eurodance music group based in Rotterdam. The group was the creation of Dutch producers Wessel van Diepen and Dennis van den Driesschen (known as Danski and Delmundo). It consists of lead vocalist Kim Sasabone, female v ...
and eliminated Jimbo. Heals was eliminated in the following episode, the
Snatch Game
Snatch Game is a challenge on the ''Drag Race'' reality competition television franchise. Beginning with the second season of the original American series '' RuPaul's Drag Race'', the challenge has taken place on every season since. It has also ...
, by
Blu Hydrangea, after her performance as
Mariah Carey in the Snatch Game, which she did not react well to.
Pangina Heals has a drag "daughter", Felicia Heals, who appeared in the casting special for the
second season of ''Drag Race Thailand'', becoming the first
cisgender female queen to appear in the franchise.
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Web series
See also
*
List of University of California, Los Angeles people
This is a list of notable present and former faculty, staff, and students of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Notable alumni
Nobel laureates
* Ralph Bunche – recipient of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize
* Richard F. Heck – re ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heals, Pangina
1988 births
Living people
Drag Race Thailand
Gay entertainers
Pangina Heals
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Participants in British reality television series