Joella is the stage name of Joey (born November 16, 1999), an American drag performer who competed on the seventeenth 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, ...

''. She finished in thirteenth place.

Biography

Joella was raised in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish language, Spanish for "Crown") is a city in northwestern Riverside County, California, United States, directly bordering Orange County, California, Orange and San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino counties. Its curre ...

Career

Joella is a drag performer also known as Joella Perry. The first drag performance she saw was

Frank Marino Francesco Antonio Marino (born November 20, 1954) is a Canadian guitarist and singer, best known as the leader of Canadian hard rock band Mahogany Rush. Often compared to Jimi Hendrix, he is described as one of the most underrated guitarists of ...

's celebrity impersonation show in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. She decided to start performing after being shown clips of

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

Tatianna Joseph Michael "Joey" Santolini (born December 1, 1987), better known by his stage name Tatianna, is an American drag queen, musician, and reality television personality from Washington, D.C. He is best known for competing on the second season o ...

, and

Sasha Velour Alexander "Sasha" Hedges Steinberg (born June 25, 1987), known professionally as Sasha Velour, is an American drag queen, artist, actor, and stage and television producer, based in Brooklyn, New York. Velour is known for winning the ninth seaso ...

competing on ''Drag Race'' by her friend. She began performing at 340 Nightclub in Pomona where she met her "drag mother", Reina. In 2021, she performed alongside

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

for the opening night of 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 Theatre in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. In 2023, Joella appeared in the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for Baby Tate's song "Wig". The first name of Joella's drag persona came from a friend from high school. On the seventeenth season of ''

'', Joella was eliminated on the fourth episode ("

Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen! "Bitch, I'm a Drag Queen!" is the fourth episode of the seventeenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. It originally aired on January 24, 2025. American actress Julia Schlaepfer is a guest judge. The episode's main challenge has contestants rec ...

") after placing in the bottom two and losing a

lip-sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...

contest against

Kori King Rashawn King, known professionally as Kori King, is an American drag performer who competed on the seventeenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race.'' Early life and education Rashawn King was born on March 13, 2000 and raised in Boston. His parent ...

. Joella placed 13th overall. Joella was labelled a "breakout star" of the season for her "mixture of confidence, emotional outbursts, and quotable commentary". Her titling herself "''the'' Slaysian diva of Los Angeles" sparked numerous commentaries and parodies. The runway outfit she wore during her elimination, resembling a "mattress... with a face-hole cut out of it and a giant print of

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 ''

Born Naked ''Born Naked'' is the seventh studio album from American singer-songwriter, actor and drag queen RuPaul. It was released on iTunes and Amazon through RuCo on February 24, 2014, coinciding with the sixth season premiere of ''RuPaul's Drag Race' ...

'' album cover photo", became beloved among the show's fans for its "absurd" and "camp" qualities. Her Instagram following grew by 346 percent while the show aired.

Personal life

Joella is based in

Koreatown A Koreatown (), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. History Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have only been in existence s ...

, Los Angeles. She is gender-fluid and of

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

descent.

Discography

Singles

*"Don't Forget The 'Ella" (2025)

Filmography

Television

* ''

'' (

season 17 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

, 2025) * ''RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked'' (2025)

Web series

* ''Hello Hello Hello'' (2025), hosted by

Kyran Thrax Kyran Thrax is the stage name of Kyran Peet, an English drag performer and winner of sixth series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. Early life Peet discovered drag after playing around with makeup while attending drama school at East 15 Acting Scho ...

, World of Wonder

References

{{RuPaul's Drag Race Living people 1999 births American drag queens American people of Chinese descent Drag performers from Los Angeles RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Genderfluid drag performers