David Petruschin (born April 8, 1979), best known as Raven, 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 ...

, make-up artist, and reality television personality from

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. Raven was a fixture in the Southern California nightclub scene before gaining international prominence for appearing in both the second 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, ...

'' and the first season of '' All Stars''. Raven placed as the runner-up on both seasons. Petruschin has been

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

's makeup artist since ''Drag Race'''s ninth season (episode 3) and has since become a creative producer of both ''RuPaul’s Drag Race'' and ''RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars''. For his make-up work on the show, Petruschin received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic) in 2020.

Early life

Petruschin was born to DeShawna and Viktor Petruschin in

Rexburg, Idaho Rexburg is a city in Madison County, Idaho, United States. The population was 39,409 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Madison County and its largest city. Rexburg is the principal city of the Rexburg ...

as the first of three children. He is of Russian ancestry. His mother, who separated from his father when he was seven years old, raised him as

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

. She grew up in

Victorville, California Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810. Victorville is the principal city of a Victor Valley–based urban area defined by the United States Census Bureau: ...

Career

Before becoming a drag artist, Petruschin worked as a

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

salesperson and a freelance

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...

for local theater productions during the day, moonlighting in nightclubs as a go-go boy under the name "Phoenix". His drag debut as Raven was on May 10, 2002, performing with fellow future ''

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 ...

'' alumnus Mayhem Miller. Petruschin did not have a drag mother. As Raven, Petruschin auditioned to compete on the first and second seasons of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''.

Early ''Drag Race'' appearances

In 2010, Raven was announced as a contestant on the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. In the first episode, she won the season's first mini-challenge, a photo shoot. In the second and third episode she landed in the bottom two, having to "lip-sync for her life" twice in order to stay in the competition. She won both lip-syncs. Raven won a second mini-challenge in the fourth episode by guessing the price of various objects, earning her a phone call home; and a third mini-challenge in the fifth episode by successfully decorating a box to reflect his personal style. She won the seventh and eighth main challenges, which involved creating and promoting an autobiography, and giving an older gentleman a makeover, respectively. At the end of the competition, she ultimately placed second behind Tyra Sanchez. Raven appeared in the spin-off series '' RuPaul's Drag U'', which ran for three seasons. Raven served as a "drag professor" and mentor to female contestants who are given make-overs. In the series, his persona is not portrayed in a villainous fashion, but instead as a softer and nurturing mentor. Raven made a total of twelve appearances and collected the most wins during the series' run, being dubbed the "Makeover Queen". In an episode of the second season he gave his mother DeShawna a makeover, helping him win against the sisters of Jujubee and Manila Luzon. On August 6, 2012, Raven was announced as one of twelve past ''Drag Race'' contestants selected for '' RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'', which premiered on the Logo network on October 22, 2012. He was paired with contestant and best friend Jujubee to form ''Team Rujubee''. They won the mini-challenges in the second and fifth episode by correctly answering questions about each other in the style of ''

The Newlywed Game ''The Newlywed Game'' is an American television game show. Newly married couples compete against each other in a series of revealing question rounds to determine how well the spouses know or do not know each other. The program, originally created ...

'' and by scoring more points in a game of basketball, which won them a call to their loved ones. The duo reached the final, which aired on November 26, 2012, where Raven again landed as a runner-up, this time to winner Chad Michaels. During the airing of the first ''All Stars'' season, Raven (along with ''All Stars'' contestants Manila Luzon, Latrice Royale, and Tammie Brown) appeared in a television commercial for travel website Orbitz's new portal for

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

leisure travel.

Post ''All-Stars'' work

Petruschin returned to ''Drag Race'' off-camera as RuPaul's make-up artist, beginning with the ninth season. He received a nomination for the 2018 Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Award in the category "Television and New Media Series: Best Contemporary Makeup". For his work on the tenth season, he received a nomination for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in the category Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special. He won an Emmy for his work on the twelfth season. Aside from doing RuPaul's make-up, she has served as a creative producer for ''All Stars'' since its third season and for ''Drag Race'' since its tenth. Raven IIWU

In a commercial promoting the syndication run of the cable television series '' Nip/Tuck'' on the Logo network, Raven lip synced to the theme song "A Perfect Lie" as she caressed a syringe close to her lips. The commercial was based on one of her past drag performances. She has also made a guest appearance in an episode of Logo's reality series, '' Pretty Hurts'', which documents the life and career of celebrity medical aesthetician Rand Rusher. Raven appeared in an episode of '' America's Next Top Model, Cycle 8'', during a photo shoot where each of the show's contestants dressed in male drag and paired with a drag queen. Raven made a cameo in the 2011 music video for " Diamond Crowned Queen" by ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season three winner

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

. His cameo was praised by critics, who named her the "magnificent Raven". In 2012, along with other ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' contestants, she appeared in another music video, "Queen" by Mimi Imfurst's band Xelle. He also starred in the music video "Feed Me Diamonds" by MNDR. In 2014, Raven and Raja started a weekly

YouTube 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 ...

fashion critique show on World of Wonder's channel called "'' Fashion Photo RuView''", where they discuss fashion from mostly ''Drag Race'' alumni. He has appeared on multiple other WOW shows as well. Focusing his efforts on film projects, Petruschin currently rarely performs in live drag shows.

Legacy

In 2016, Raven was included as an inspiration in '' Vanity Fair's'' "100 Years of Drag Fashion" video, alongside iconic drag performers

Divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, and

. The video presented his style as the epitome of 2000s-era drag. Raven is widely cited as creating the “face of drag”, even inspiring RuPaul's original make-up artist, Mathu Andersen. ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season six winner Bianca Del Rio has also stated that many young drag queens use Raven's style.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Music videos

Awards and nominations

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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References

External links

''Make Up Work! with Raven'' series
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raven 1979 births Living people American drag queens American people of Russian descent Former Latter Day Saints 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from California American make-up artists People from Riverside, California People from Victorville, California Primetime Emmy Award winners RuPaul's Drag Race contestants People from Rexburg, Idaho Drag performers from California Drag performers from Idaho