Wong Israel, better known by the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Xilhouete, is a Filipino

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...

performer. They are best known for competing on the first season of ''

Drag Race Philippines ''Drag Race Philippines'' is a Philippine reality competition television series. It is a spin-off of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. The series is produced by World of Wonder and Fullhouse Asia Production Studios. The series airs on Discovery+ and HBO ...

''.

Career

Xilhouete is a drag performer who has also been described as an artist, a director, and an entrepreneur. Xilhouete competed on the first season of ''

.'' John Legaspi of the ''

Manila Bulletin The ''Manila Bulletin'' (), (also known as the ''Bulletin'' and previously known as the ''Manila Daily Bulletin'' from 1906 to September 23, 1972, and the ''Bulletin Today'' from November 22, 1972, to March 10, 1986) is the Philippines' largest ...

'' wrote, "On the first day of the competition, the feud between

Marina Summers The first season of ''Drag Race Philippines'' premiered on August 17, 2022. The cast was announced on July 27, 2022. The winner of the first season of ''Drag Race Philippines'' was Precious Paula Nicole, with Marina Summers as runners-up. Castin ...

and her former drag mom Xilhouete was already put to the table, providing many uses for the shade sound effects throughout the season." Josiah Antonio of ''ABS-CBN News'' said Xilhouete had a "meltdown" after receiving negative criticism from judges in the third episode's

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

challenge. Xilhouete impersonated

Vicki Belo Vicky, Vicko, Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki. Women * Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901), wife of Germa ...

for the

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a challenge on the ''Drag Race'' reality competition television franchise. Beginning with the second season of the original American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', the challenge has taken place on every season since. It has also o ...

challenge. She won two challenges and defeated Minty Fresh in a lip-sync battle to Vernie Varga's "You'll Always Be My Number One". Xilhouete was a finalist but lost to Marina Summers in the semi-finals. In 2022, Xilhouete was featured in a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

advertisement for the series ''

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...

''. She also appeared in a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

video "Pa Drag Race Den" with

Maricel Soriano Maricel Soriano (; born Maria Cecilia Dador Soriano; February 25, 1965) is a Filipina film and television actress, occasional host and dancer. With a career spanning of over 50 years, Soriano is one of the most celebrated artists and popularly ...

. Xilhouete appears in the 2023 summer MMFF film ''

Here Comes the Groom ''Here Comes the Groom'' is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film produced and directed by Frank Capra and starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman. Based on a story by Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien, the film is about a foreign correspondent w ...

'' and got nominated for best supporting actor.

Personal life

Originally from

Cabanatuan Cabanatuan, officially the City of Cabanatuan ( fil, Lungsod ng Cabanatuan; ilo, Siudad ti Cabanatuan), is a 1st class component city in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 327,325 peo ...

Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province ...

, Xilhouete lives in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,960,048 people. It was foun ...

. As of 2022, Xilhouete was partnered and had a dog; both appeared on an episode of ''Drag Race Philippines: Untucked'' during Xilhouete's time on ''Drag Race''. Xilhouete has been a co-owner and

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

of a bar in Manila called Nectar Nightclub. According to Jove Moya of ''Tatler Asia'', "Many queens consider Xilhouete a veteran performer; she is often regarded as a 'drag mother' who seeks to celebrate the legacy of her co-performers." Xilhouete's "drag daughters" include fellow contestants Marina Summers and Minty Fresh. On the origins of their drag name and

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...

, Xilhouete has said: "At first, my name was inspired by my love for film. Then the meaning became profound as I changed the spelling from silhouette to xilhouete. Xilhouete is a representation of all living and non-living things, however, you want to see her/him. In short, I do not conform to gender. I am just Xilhouete, I am my own."

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{Drag Race Philippines 1980s births Living people Drag Race Philippines contestants Entertainers from Quezon City Non-binary drag performers People from Cabanatuan