Pangina Heals

Pan Pan Narkprasert (; born July 22, 1988), known as Pangina Heals, is a Thai drag queen and judge on ''Drag Race Thailand'', who later went on to compete on the first series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World'' (2022). He has been described as one of the most popular drag performers in Asia, and is often called the RuPaul of Thailand. Narkprasert founded the Bangkok drag venue, House of Heals.

Early life and education

Narkprasert was born to a Thai father and a Taiwanese mother in Bangkok. He was a student at Shrewsbury International School and Harrow International School Bangkok. He was bullied by his peers and battled depression and bulimia. He later lived in Los Angeles for four years, where he studied fine arts at the University of California, Los Angeles.

After graduating, Narkprasert returned to spend a year navigating Bangkok’s art scene. He entered his first competition, a Lady Gaga lookalike competition, in 2010 and won a trip to New York City to see her perform in concert. Eventually, with the help of local drag performer Sira Soda, he learned how to dress and put on makeup.

Career

Narkprasert chose his drag name as a reference to the drag queen Ongina and the super continent Pangaea. By 2011, Narkprasert had made a name for himself as Thailand's waacking queen, and he would go on to win T Battle 2014, Thailand’s first reality TV drag competition. Pangina Heals continued to hone his craft by hosting a weekly LGBTQI+ night in Bangkok at the upmarket cabaret bar Maggie Choo's.

Pangina Heals made his acting debut after joining the main cast of the play, ''The Lisbon Traviata'', written by American playwright Terrence McNally and produced by English-language multicultural theatre group Culture Collective Studio, where he portrayed Mendy. Pangina Heals opened for Tube Gallery's 20th anniversary fashion show. He was a part of the lineup for Melbourne’s Drag Exp in 2020. In June 2021, he hosted ''Queer Got Talent'', an online talent competition.

In 2020, Narkprasert opened House of Heals, a drag bar in Bangkok.

Television

As Pangina Heals, Narkprasert participated on Thailand's version of Lip Sync Battle and won the competition with a rendition of Lady Gaga's "Telephone". He competed in and won ''T Battle'', a Thai reality show where 13 local gender benders competed in singing, dancing and impersonation challenges. He also competed on ''Thailand Dance Now''. In 2018, he was announced to co-host ''Drag Race Thailand'', a Thai spin-off of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', produced by Kantana Group.

In January 2022, he was announced as one of the nine contestants on the first series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World'', making his the first ever contestant to have judged an iteration of the show before entering the competition. In the premiere episode, Pangina Heals won the episode after beating Jimbo to a lipsync to "Say You'll Be There" by The Spice Girls, and chose to eliminate Lemon from the competition. In Episode 3, Pangina won for the second time after beating Dutch contestant Janey Jacké in a lipsync performance to " We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)" by the Vengaboys and eliminated Jimbo. Pangina Heals was eliminated in the following episode, the Snatch Game, by Blu Hydrangea, after his performance as Mariah Carey in the Snatch Game, which she did not react well to.

Pangina Heals has a drag "daughter", Felicia Heals, who appeared in the casting special for the second season of ''Drag Race Thailand'', becoming the first cisgender female queen to appear in the franchise.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Web series

See also

* List of University of California, Los Angeles people

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heals, Pangina
1988 births
Living people
Gay entertainers
Pangina Heals
Pangina Heals
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Participants in British reality television series