Denali Foxx (or simply Denali) is the stage name of Cordero Matthew Zuckerman (born April 1, 1992), an American drag performer,

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

, and

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

best known for competing on the thirteenth 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 tenth 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, ...

''.

Early life

Born to Jeffrey Alan Zuckerman and Jo Ann Hernandez on April 1, 1992, in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a Municipal home rule, home rule city and the county seat, borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior Alaska, interior region of Alaska and the second la ...

, Zuckerman was raised by parents of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent. Zuckerman graduated from

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish Language and Literature and a minor in

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and Korean.Program - Santa & Friends on Ice - Beau Rivage Resort and Casino 2-28, 2014
/ref>

Career

Zuckerman is a double gold medalist in the

U.S. Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act a ...

moves and freestyle category and a

PSA PSA, PsA, Psa, or psa may refer to: Biology and medicine * Posterior spinal artery * Primary systemic amyloidosis, a disease caused by the accumulation of abnormal proteins * Prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme used as a blood tracer for pro ...

certified coach. He has skated with

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by United Parks & Resorts. The parks host shows st ...

, and Royal Caribbean Productions and choreographed for Team USA figure skaters

Mariah Bell Mariah Cheyenne Bell (born April 18, 1996) is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2022 U.S. national champion, 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2020 U.S. national silver medalist, ...

Amber Glenn Amber Elaine Glenn (born October 28, 1999) is an American figure skater. She is the 2024–25 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, 2024–25 Grand Prix Final champion, the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2024 & 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Cha ...

, and Ashley Cain-Gribble/

Timothy LeDuc Timothy LeDuc (born May 4, 1990) is a retired American pair skater. With their skating partner, Ashley Cain, they are a two-time U.S. national champion (2019, 2022), the 2018 Four Continents silver medalist, and a two-time Grand Prix medalist. ...

. Denali competed on the thirteenth season of ''

''. She was the first contestant from

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and the first to compete with

ice skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...

s. During the show, she eliminated

Kahmora Hall Kahmora Hall (born September 13, 1991) is the stage name of Paul Tran, a drag performer most known for competing on season 13 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Career Kahmora Hall was the first contestant eliminated from season 13 of ''RuPaul's Drag ...

from the competition by lip syncing to "

100% Pure Love "100% Pure Love" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Crystal Waters from her second studio album, '' Storyteller'' (1994). It was released on April 11, 1994, by Mercury and A&M Records (UK), as the album's lead single. The song ...

" by

Crystal Waters Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house music, house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits "Gypsy Woman (Crystal Waters song), Gypsy Woman", "100% Pure Love", and 2007's "Destination Cal ...

, portrayed a

Russian bot Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

in " Social Media: The Unverified Rusical", and impersonated

Jonathan Van Ness Jonathan McDonald Van Ness (born March 28, 1987), also commonly referred to by his initials J.V.N., is an American hairstylist, podcast host and television personality. He is best known as the grooming expert on the Netflix series ''Queer Eye ...

during

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a comedy challenge recurring across the ''Drag Race'' television franchise and a fixture of the reality competition series. Since the second season of the original American ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' series in 2010, the challenge ha ...

. She was eliminated in the season's makeover challenge after a lip sync against

Olivia Lux Olivia Lux (born March 14, 1994) is the stage name of Fred Carlton Bunton, an American drag performer most known for competing on RuPaul's Drag Race (season 13), season 13 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 10, seaso ...

, finishing in 8th place. On April 23, 2025, Denali was announced as one of eighteen former ''Drag Race'' contestants participating in the tenth season of ''

''.

Personal life

Zuckerman lives in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, as of 2018. He has a third-degree black belt in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

Discography

Filmography

Television

Web series

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Cordero Zuckerman
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{Authority control 1992 births Living people 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people American drag queens American figure skaters American people of Mexican descent Drag performers from Alaska Drag performers from Chicago Entertainers from Alaska Hispanic and Latino American drag queens LGBTQ Jews People from Fairbanks, Alaska RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Sportspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska University of Utah alumni