Adam Daniel Guerra (born September 5, 1983), known by his stage name Venus D-Lite, is an American drag performer, television personality and

Madonna impersonator A Madonna impersonator is an entertainer who impersonator, impersonates American singer-songwriter Madonna. Professional or dedicated Madonna impersonators have existed since at least the mid-1980s, and were sometimes sorted as Tribute band, "tr ...

. He gained recognition for competing on the third 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 went viral with his appearance in a '' My Strange Addiction'' episode called "Addicted To Being

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

" (2015).

Early life and education

Guerra was raised in Rosemead, California. He attended

San Gabriel High School San Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a public high school located in Los Angeles County, California and operated by the Alhambra Unified School District. It is almost entirely in the city limits of Alhambra, with a small portion and the school's add ...

and then

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a Public college, public community college in Costa Mesa, California, Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Ar ...

, where he majored in business. He was also pursuing a degree in

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

from Los Angeles Community College, but dropped out in order to pursue a career in drag full-time.

Career

Guerra started performing as D-Lite (in a

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

impersonation) on August 5, 2002 and made his first television appearance on ''

The Ricki Lake Show ''The Ricki Lake Show'' (also known as ''Ricki'' or ''The New Ricki Lake Show'') is an American first-run syndicated talk show hosted by Ricki Lake. The series also marked her return to talk television after leaving the genre in 2004. After sev ...

'' in 2003. His drag name came from a combination of “Venus” (taken from “Venus Was Her Name”, a song by

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. The band had a string of hit songs during the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s and e ...

), and “D-Lite”, a name thought of by Guerra's then-boyfriend and makeup artist of three years. A fan of Madonna, he spent over $175,000 on 19 surgeries to look like her for his performances. He was announced as a contestant on ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season 3 on January 24, 2011. He was eliminated in the first episode, after losing a

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

to " The Right Stuff" by

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

against Shangela, and placed thirteenth. He did however make a guest appearance on the first episode of the fourth season. In 2014, he made an appearance on '' Botched'' to get

rhinoplasty Rhinoplasty (, nose + , to shape), commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction, is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the human nose, nose. There are two types of plastic surgery used – plastic sur ...

surgery. He was in an episode of '' My Strange Addiction'' in 2015 to discuss his Madonna obsession. He was also with fellow ''Drag Race'' alumni in an episode of ''

Skin Wars ''Skin Wars'' is a body painting reality competition hosted by Rebecca Romijn that premiered on the American pay-television channel Game Show Network on August 6, 2014. Contestants on the series perform challenges containing body painting each e ...

''. On February 5, 2015, ''Drag Race'' winner

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 ...

featured Venus in an episode of her WOWPresents web series "Really Queen?" where she made jokes about her. Venus appeared in a reaction video on February 25 by WOW making jokes back at Del Rio. Aside from Madonna, he has previously impersonated

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

, and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

Music

Guerra released his first single "I'm Not Madonna" featuring singer Jenn Cuneta on July 7, 2014, on a remix EP. He collaborated with fellow ''Botched'' guests Toby Sheldon and Kitty Jay for the single "The Plastics", credited as a band of the same name.

Personal life

Guerra is gay. In 2021, he came out as HIV-positive in an interview with Joseph Shepherd. In June 2022, Venus made an

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 ...

post admitting that he was

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

d by a fellow Drag Race alum in 2013, one described as a “popular queen”, but refused to name the rapist.

Filmography

Television

Web series

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* {{RuPaul's Drag Race 1983 births Living people American drag queens American gay entertainers LGBTQ people from California Orange Coast College alumni RuPaul's Drag Race contestants People with HIV/AIDS Drag performers from Los Angeles 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people Celebrity impersonators