Coco Montrese (born July 2, 1974) is the stage name of Lenwood Martin Cooper, an American drag queen, entertainer, and reality television personality. Montrese came into the spotlight after being crowned

Miss Gay America Miss Gay America is a national pageant for female impersonators. Established in 1972, the pageant is based on the Miss America contest and follows a similar format. Each year, contestants compete at various city, state, and direct regional pre ...

2010 when

Alyssa Edwards Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson (born January 16, 1980), best known by the stage name Alyssa Edwards, is an American drag performer, choreographer, and businessperson. Edwards was known for competing in drag pageantry (notably Miss Gay America 2010) b ...

' title was revoked. She subsequently appeared on ''

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 ...

'' season 5 as well as ''RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'' Season 2.

Early life

Montrese was born on July 2, 1974 in Miami, Florida. She grew up in a "very religious home" as the child of a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

pastor. Montrese studied theater and education at

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the ...

Career

Montrese became interested in drag around age 19 or 20 and was named by her drag mother Mokha Montrese. She entered pageantry, eventually becoming runner up in the 2010

pageant. The titleholder,

, was stripped of her crown for conflicting business dealings. On February 27, 2010, Montrese was then crowned as Miss Gay America 2010. Before appearing on ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', Montrese worked at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

for 11 years as an entertainer for the Fantasmic show. Working there allowed her to be able to work during the day and do drag during the evenings. She then moved to Las Vegas, where she appeared in a number of shows as a Janet Jackson impersonator. Montrese applied just once for ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and was accepted for their fifth season as one of fourteen contestants. The series aired during January–May 6, 2013. During the show, Montrese was criticized for her orange makeup, which inspired many

internet memes An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. She was placed in the bottom four times, eventually sending her "arch rival" Alyssa Edwards home during their lipsync. Montrese ended up being sent home by

Detox Icunt Matthew D. Sanderson, (born June 3, 1985) better known by the stage name Detox Icunt or simply Detox, is an American drag performer and recording artist. Detox was a fixture of the Southern California drag scene before coming to international at ...

the next week, garnering a fifth place finish. Montrese was chosen to appear on the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'', which premiered August 25, 2016. Montrese was the first contestant cut from the show, being eliminated by

Roxxxy Andrews Michael W. Feliciano, known by his stage name Roxxxy Andrews (born September 23, 1983), is an American drag performer who came to international attention on the fifth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Rac ...

. At the

2016 MTV Video Music Awards The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday night, August 28, 2016 at 9:00–11:54pm EDT at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Adele's " Hello" was the most nominated video with seven categories. This marked the 33rd edition of the live ...

, Montrese dressed up as a 1999 Lil' Kim with a purple mermaid-inspired jumpsuit. Montrese's drag daughter is Las Vegas queen Kahanna Montrese, a contestant on season 11 of ''Drag Race''. In September 2019, at RuPaul’s DragCon NYC, Montrese was named as one of a rotating cast of a dozen ''Drag Race'' queens in ''

RuPaul's Drag Race Live! ''RuPaul's Drag Race Live!'' is an American residency show in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring past competitors from the television show ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. The variety show features a mix of original music, lip syncs, comedy, and dance numbers dir ...

'', a Las Vegas show residency at the

Flamingo Las Vegas Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3,4 ...

. The show features RuPaul’s music and former ''Drag Race'' contestants. In March 2022, Montrese, alongside the rest of the ''RuPaul's Drag Race Live!'' cast, performed with Katy Perry during her

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

concert residency at

Resorts World Las Vegas Resorts World Las Vegas is a resort, mall, and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, United States. The property had been the site of the Stardust Resort and Casino until 2007, when Boyd Gaming demolished the resort to develop its ...

. In June 2021, she was a featured performer at Nashville's OUTLOUD Music Festival. Montrese also appeared on the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars'' as the 'Lipsync Assassin' of episode 1. She won her lipsync against competitor Yara Sofia, eliminating Serena ChaCha (her fellow competitor from the fifth season of ''Drag Race''). In July 2022, Coco Montrese headlined the 10th year of Hagerstown Hopes and Hagerstown Pride festival.

Pageant titles

*Miss Gay America - first alternate, then winner (2010) *Miss Gay Heart of America (2009) *Miss Gay Heart of America - first alternate (2008) *Miss Gay Orlando (2008) *Miss Gay Days (2008) *Miss Gay Florida America (2007) *Miss Gay Florida USofA (2005) *Miss Lakeland (2003) *Miss Hernando County

Personal life

Since at least September 2016, Cooper is married to Alfonzo Hestle. When asked if queer people should support the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement, Montrese responded, "I think it’s important the LGBTQ community support all movements that support all people and equality for all. If we don’t start shedding light on these things, younger generations won’t even recognize it. If you don’t bring up the past, you are doomed to repeat it. We’re all fighting for the same thing — they want to be seen as the same as everyone else — so yes, they should support that."

Filmography

Television

Web series

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montrese, Coco 1974 births Living people African-American drag queens LGBT African Americans American LGBT musicians LGBT people from Florida Coco Montrese Alabama State University alumni Coco Montrese