Candis Cayne (born August 29, 1971) is an American actress and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist. Cayne performed in New York City

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s in drag since the 1990s, and came out as

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

in 1996; Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC's prime time drama '' Dirty Sexy Money''. The role makes Cayne the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in primetime. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as the Fairy Queen on the fantasy series '' The Magicians''.

Early life

Cayne has a fraternal twin brother named Dylan. Their parents taught at a Waldorf School, and the family lived on campus.Venus, Michael (2002). Michael Venus Profiles: Candis Cayne. ''YouTube'' She graduated from Henry Perrine Baldwin High School in Hawaii in 1989 and then spent a year in Los Angeles, where she trained as a dancer.

Career

Cayne then moved to New York in the early 1990s, making a name for herself as a choreographer and drag performer. About three years after her arrival in NYC, Cayne realized that the term

described how she felt about herself. Already performing as "Candis Cayne" at New York

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

Boy Bar and as a featured performer at Tour in New York's Chelsea, the entertainer also participated in Wigstock, the annual drag festival in Manhattan's East Village. In 1995 Cayne appeared in the related documentary film '' Wigstock: The Movie'', the comedy-drama film '' Stonewall'', and the

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

comedy feature film '' To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'', for which she also did choreography. In 1996, she had a supporting role in the comedy-drama film ''Always Something Better'' (a.k.a. ''Never Look Back''). In 1997 Cayne was in a documentary called Drag Time on HBO along with many other famous New York nightlife performers. Candis also co-starred in the music video for

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 " A Little Bit of Love" with female impersonator Jazzmun. Cayne also starred as the title character in the 1998 independent film '' Mob Queen'', and won the 2001 Miss Continental pageant. In 2007 Cayne was cast as Annaka Manners in the 2007 RuPaul film '' Starrbooty''. From 2007 to 2008 Cayne played Carmelita Rainer, a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

having an affair with married New York Attorney General Patrick Darling (played by William Baldwin), on the ABC prime time drama '' Dirty Sexy Money''. She had a recurring role as the transgender character Alexis Stone in season six of '' Nip/Tuck''. Cayne has appeared as a judge and Dean of Dance on '' RuPaul's Drag U''. As a dance teacher, she taught contestants original choreography to " No Scrubs" by

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

and

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

's song "

Milkshake A milkshake (sometimes simply called a shake) is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may ...

". In 2011, she guest-starred on the TV show '' Necessary Roughness'' as Geraldine. In 2015, Cayne started making appearances in seasons 1 and 2 of Caitlyn Jenner's reality show '' I Am Cait''. From 2017 to 2018, Cayne played the role of The Fairy Queen in the Syfy series The Magicians. Cayne appeared in the 2020 documentary '' Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen''. She also hosted the third edition of Werq the World's livestreamed series.

Activism and personal life

Cayne began transitioning circa 1996. Cayne has stated, "I'm not trying to be a spokeswoman for the transgender community; I just want to be looked at as a living, breathing, happy human being." She calls the

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 ...

community "the last great minority" and supports LGBT+ rights charity

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

. In August 2015, Candis Cayne teamed up with the global LGBT social network MOOVZ as the new global creative director. For over eight years, ending in 2010, Cayne was in a relationship with DJ Marco McDermott, to whom she referred as her husband. During that time, she helped raise McDermott's daughter, Satori, from a previous relationship. In 2016, during season 2 of the reality show '' I Am Cait'', Cayne explored the possibility of adopting as a single mom.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* *
Candis Cayne profile
at QueenMother.tv
Candis Cayne hosts NewNowNext Awards for LOGO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cayne, Candis 1971 births Living people Actresses from Maui American drag queens American film actresses American transgender actresses American LGBTQ rights activists American television actresses American twins Drag performers from New York City LGBTQ choreographers LGBTQ people from Hawaii Miss Continental winners Transgender drag performers Transgender female models Waldorf school alumni Drag performers from Hawaii