Sang-Young Shin (; born August 8, 1987), known professionally as Kim Chi, is an American drag queen, artist, entrepreneur, and television personality best known for competing on the eighth 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, ...

''. Kim Chi was the first Korean-American contestant on the show as well as the first Korean-American drag queen on American national television. She owns the beauty brand Kim Chi Chic Cosmetics.

Early life

Sang-Young Shin was born in the United States on August 8, 1987, and lived in South Korea as a child. Her parents, who are divorced, also live 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 2016, Kim Chi lived in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. She attended

Okemos High School Okemos High School is a public high school in Okemos, Michigan, United States. It is the only high school in the Okemos Public Schools district. It is located southeast of the main campus of Michigan State University, between Bennett and Jolly ...

. As of 2017, her mother did not know she did drag until she reached fame on TV. Shin studied graphic design in college before working as an art director and exploring sculpture, fashion design, and painting.

Career

Shin started performing in drag as Kim Chi in Chicago in 2012. Her drag name is a pun on "

Kimchi Kimchi (; ) is a traditional Korean side dish (''banchan'') consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most often napa cabbage or Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...

", the Korean national dish and is also a valid Korean female name ("

Kim Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynas ...

" is the surname and "

Chi __NOTOC__ Chi may refer to: __NOTOC__ Greek *Chi (letter) (Χ or χ), the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet Chinese * ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon * Chi (surname) ...

" is the given name). Describing her drag aesthetic, Shin stated, "Kim Chi is a live action anime character whose fashion aesthetic could be described as 'bionic doily.' I imagine my aura to be an array of ultra violet colors that spews glitter. I celebrate all things cute, fun, weird, and exotic." Prior to joining ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', Kim Chi befriended and helped season seven contestant

Trixie Mattel Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, makeup entrepreneur, DJ and singer-songwriter originally from Silver Cliff, Wisconsin, Silver Cliff, Ma ...

get one of her first drag jobs in Chicago, as it was difficult for Mattel to find one in her hometown of Milwaukee. Kim Chi was one of twelve drag queens accepted for the eighth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', which started airing March 7, 2016. Upon joining the show, she became "the first Korean drag queen to be featured on American national television." Kim Chi won the first challenge, which came with a small cash prize. Shin sent the money to her mother, telling her she made it through makeup work. Eventually, Kim Chi made it to the top three along with

Naomi Smalls Naomi Smalls is the stage name of Davis M. Heppenstall (born September 8, 1993), an American drag queen and reality television personality, best known as one of the runners-up on the RuPaul's Drag Race (season 8), eighth season of ''RuPaul's Drag ...

, but lost the title to

Bob the Drag Queen Christopher Delmar Caldwell (born June 22, 1986), also known by his stage name Caldwell Tidicue and better known by his drag name Bob the Drag Queen, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, activist, musician, author, and reality television ...

. During the finale, she lip synced a song specifically made for her called "Fat, Fem, & Asian", which was a commentary on negative stereotypes in the gay dating world. After Drag Race, Kim Chi partnered with Sugarpill Cosmetics to create different makeup items, including the Kim Chi Liquid Lip Color, a donut-scented lipstick described as a "Matte lavender mauve with a subtle, unique blend of transparent aqua and violet sparkles". Other items included the Kim Chi Electric Teal Eyeshadow. In November 2016, Kim Chi released a package of Kim Chi

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

called Kimchiji. Emoji included her catchphrases, a burrito bowl, a chicken wing, and a butt being spanked. In March 2017, Kim Chi was invited to the College of Communication and Fine Arts at

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

for an event called "A Fabulous Evening With Kim Chi: Exploring Gender Identity Through Drag". She was the first drag queen to come to the college, and did so in full drag makeup. Along with a performance, there was a question and answer section during the event. In April 2017, Kim Chi performed at

Arizona State University West campus Arizona State University at the West Valley campus is a public university in Phoenix, Arizona. It is one of five university campuses that compose Arizona State University (ASU). The West Valley campus was established by the Arizona Legislature ...

for their Asian Heritage Week and Pride Week. Emily Kwon, President of the Asian-Asian Pacific American Students' Coalition, put on the event and invited Kim Chi to perform for the students. In May 2017, Kim Chi performed as part of the Werq the World 2017 tour. The tour, hosted by

Bianca Del Rio Roy R. Haylock (born June 27, 1975), better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Since her time on ''Drag R ...

and

Michelle Visage Michelle Visage (born Michelle Lynn Shupack, September 20, 1968) is an American television personality, singer, broadcaster, producer, and actress. She gained recognition as a member of the dance-pop group Seduction (group), Seduction, who char ...

, also featured drag queens

Alaska Thunderfuck Justin Andrew Honard (born March 6, 1985), best known by the stage name Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 or Alaska Thunderfuck and Mononymous person, mononymously as Alaska, is an American drag queen and singer from Erie, Pennsylvania. She is best know ...

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 ...

Detox Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

Latrice Royale Timothy K. Wilcots (born February 12, 1972), better known by the stage name Latrice Royale, is an American drag performer, recording artist, and reality television personality. She is best known for her appearances on the fourth season of ''RuP ...

, and

Violet Chachki Violet Chachki is the stage name of Paul Jason Dardo (born June 13, 1992), an American drag queen, burlesque/Aerial dance, aerial Performing arts, performer, Content creation, content creator, model, and Music artist (occupation), recording arti ...

. In December 2018, Kim Chi appeared in the television special ''

RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular ''RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular'' was a holiday television special, which aired on VH1 on December 7, 2018. The hour-long ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' special, announced on November 1, had former ''Drag Race'' contestants Eureka O'Hara, Jasmi ...

,'' a one-off festive version of the regular ''Drag Race'' series. In June 2019, a panel of judges from ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine placed her 17th on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former ''Drag Race'' contestants. In September 2019, Kim Chi announced that she was developing her own cosmetics line in collaboration with Bespoke Beauty Brands launched by

Toni Ko Toni Ko (born 1973) is an American businesswoman and founder of NYX Cosmetics. She currently works in Los Angeles. She founded her company in 1999 and expanded it until she sold it to L’Oréal in 2014 for $500 million. She lives in Los Angeles ...

, the founder of NYX Cosmetics, called Kim Chi Chic. In 2025, Kim Chi collaborated with Korean-American

streetwear Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk fashion, punk, Skateboarding#Culture, skateboarding, 1980s no ...

brand Sundae School for

cannabis edible A cannabis edible, also known as a cannabis-infused food or simply an edible, is a food item (either homemade or produced commercially) that contains decarboxylated cannabinoids (cannabinoid acids converted to their orally bioactive form) fro ...

products, named "Kim Chi Over Flowers". She is one of the most followed queens from ''Drag Race'', and has accumulated over 1.8 million

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

followers as of June 2023.

Discography

Singles

Filmography

Movies

Television

Music videos

Web series

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control 1987 births Living people 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people American drag queens of Asian descent American drag queens American people of Korean descent American LGBTQ people of Asian descent LGBTQ people from Illinois South Korean drag queens RuPaul's Drag Race contestants American cosmetics businesspeople American make-up artists Drag performers from Chicago