James Lee Williams (born 12 April 1992), better known by the stage name The Vivienne, is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

, known for being appointed the first UK ''

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 ...

'' ambassador in 2015, winning the first series of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' in 2019, and later returning to compete in the seventh season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' is an American reality competition spin off edition of the original ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', which is produced by World of Wonder, for Logo TV and later VH1. The show premiered on October 22, 2012, on Logo TV, b ...

'' in 2022. As part of her victory, she was awarded her own online television series, later titled ''The Vivienne Takes on Hollywood''. The series premiered on 9 April 2020 on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

and follows her trip to Hollywood to produce her own music video.

Career

The Vivienne chose her name because she was known for wearing Vivienne Westwood clothing, adding the definite article to make it unique. She has worked in many

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

bars, including Superstar Boudoir, GBar and Heaven. In May 2015, she was crowned the UK Ambassador of ''

''. On 21 August 2019, The Vivienne was announced as one of the ten contestants to be competing in the first series of ''

''. In September 2019, she participated in ''Jag Race'', a racing competition in collaboration with

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar car ...

, and raced for Sahir House, a charity based in her hometown of Liverpool that provides a space in which people can speak freely without fear of prejudice, stigma, abuse or exploitation in relation to HIV. In November 2019, she was crowned the first winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. In November to December 2019, The Vivienne, alongside the cast of the first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' embarked on a tour hosted by ''Drag Race'' alum

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) ...

. In December 2019, The Vivienne alongside fellow ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' contestant

Baga Chipz Leo Loren, better known by the stage name Baga Chipz, is an English drag queen known for competing on the first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2019) and later the first season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World'' (2022). Baga Chipz ...

began starring in ''Morning T&T'' on

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 is founded in November 2017, by Randy Barbato and Fe ...

. The show saw The Vivienne and Baga reprise their

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 ...

impersonations of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

and

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

respectively, to host a fictional television news show, and consisted of six episodes as of January 2020. At DragCon UK in January 2020 an additional episode was filmed with The Vivienne and Baga appearing as themselves. Guests on the web series included fellow ''Drag Race UK'' alumni Sum Ting Wong as

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and

Cheryl Hole Cheryl Hole (born 18 October 1993) is the stage name of Luke Underwood-Bleach, an English drag queen from Chelmsford in Essex who is known for being one of the first contestants on ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2019) and later the first season of ' ...

Gemma Collins Gemma Clare Collins (born 31 January 1981) is an English media personality and businesswoman. In 2011, she began appearing on the ITVBe reality series ''The Only Way Is Essex'', appearing until 2019. Collins subsequently went on to appear in nu ...

. In March 2020, World of Wonder announced six-part series ''The Vivienne Takes on Hollywood'', documenting The Vivienne travelling to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in order to make a music video. The show premiered on

on 9 April, and simultaneously started streaming on WOW Presents Plus. The same month, The Vivienne, once again alongside Baga Chipz, started presenting the UK version of ''

I Like to Watch ''I Like to Watch'' is a 2019 American web series hosted by drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova. The series was created by Netflix, and streams on the company's YouTube channel. ''I Like to Watch'' films its hosts as they view and ...

'', a web series produced by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in which they humorously review Netflix programming. She has since appeared on Celebrity Juice. In July 2020, The Vivienne voiced as

in the

documentary ''Trump in Tweets''. She was one of the four competitors who appeared in the special Christmas edition of ''

The Great British Sewing Bee ''The Great British Sewing Bee'' is a BBC reality show that began airing on BBC Two on 2 April 2013. In the show, talented amateur sewers compete to be named "Britain's best home sewer". A spin-off of the format of ''The Great British Bake Off' ...

'' that was transmitted on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

2020 on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. In April 2022, The Vivienne was announced as part of the seventh season of ''

'', whereby former winners of the franchise returned for the title of "Queen of All Queens". In October 2022, she was announced to be competing in the fifteenth series of ITV ice-skating reality show, ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their prof ...

'', setting her to be the first drag artist to participate in the show.

Personal life

Williams was born and raised in

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

and moved to Liverpool at 16 years old. He is of Welsh and

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

heritage. Williams married David Ludford in 2019.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Filmography

Television

Web

Awards and nominations

References

External links

The Vivienne
on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivienne, The 1992 births Living people 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Gay entertainers People educated at Rydal Penrhos People from Colwyn Bay RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars contestants RuPaul's Drag Race UK winners Welsh drag queens Welsh LGBT people