RuPaul

CTL-E-6146 · Person · producer · 1960–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07361 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6146.

RuPaul, born RuPaul Andre Charles on 17 November 1960 in San Diego, California, is an American drag queen, television host, producer, singer and actor. Raised in San Diego, he studied performing arts in Atlanta before moving to New York City, where he became a fixture of the LGBTQ nightclub scene. He achieved international fame with the 1993 single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” and in 1994 became a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, the first drag queen to front a major cosmetics campaign. After hosting The RuPaul Show on VH1 in the late 1990s, he created RuPaul's Drag Race, which premiered in 2009 with him as producer, host and judge. The franchise has produced eighteen United States seasons and international versions including RuPaul's Drag Race UK and Canada's Drag Race. His memoir The House of Hidden Meanings was published in March 2024, and from January to April 2026 he hosted the eighteenth season of Drag Race on MTV.

The record

• Also known as: RuPaul Andre Charles

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Census Intake Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 12; 27-record packet). Gate A (2026-10-16): no RuPaul entity in the live graph at 3,843 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-6146 assigned at assembly. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1888 (TV Show Hosts list). The census supplied the NAME ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — Black American drag queen, producer and host from San Diego; holder of 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, the most Emmy wins of any Black artist (Television Academy; Wikipedia awards record). Vital status: LIVING — hosted the eighteenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race on MTV, which completed airing on 17 Apr 2026 (The Futon Critic). STATISTICS (sourced, dated): 14 Primetime Emmy Awards (Television Academy, accessed Oct 2026), including host wins in 2016–23 (Britannica); eighteen United States seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race through 2026 (Wikipedia; The Futon Critic); Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2018, the first drag queen so honored (Wikipedia); memoir The House of Hidden Meanings reached No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list in March 2024 (Wikipedia). MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate: Wikimedia Commons photograph of RuPaul at RuPaul's DragCon; no file page read at file-page level in this pass, so no image is cleared — CTL-PHOTO-001; a CTL-created graphic is the standing alternative); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6146-rupaul.svg); video HELD (Shorts Link Map checked by name and variants — no matching-entity CTL Short); audio HELD (no rights basis). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map catalog (checked by name and variants), and no official/em) | audio = HELD (No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio at staging.)

Sources

• Television Academy, 'RuPaul Charles | Emmy Awards and Nominations' — RuPaul Charles, born 17 November in San Diego, California, has won 14 Primetime Emmy Awards; since 2009 he has produced and hosted the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race and now also produces and stars in its All Stars and UK versions — https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/rupaul-charles (primary source · build store)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'RuPaul's Drag Race' — beginning in 2009 RuPaul hosted and coproduced RuPaul's Drag Race; he won Emmy Awards in 2016–23 as the show's host and the program won the Emmy for best competition show in 2018–21 and 2023; in 2024 RuPaul released the memoir The House of Hidden Meanings — https://www.britannica.com/topic/RuPauls-Drag-Race (build store)
• Wikipedia, 'RuPaul' — RuPaul Andre Charles, born 17 November 1960, born and raised in San Diego, studied performing arts in Atlanta and relocated to New York City; international fame with the 1993 single “Supermodel (You Better Work)”; MAC Cosmetics spokesperson in 1994, the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign; The RuPaul Show (1996–1998); Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2018; Time 100 in 2017; 14 Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuPaul (build store)
• Wikipedia, 'The House of Hidden Meanings' — RuPaul's memoir The House of Hidden Meanings, his fourth book, was published by Dey Street Books on 5 March 2024 and reached No. 1 on the New York Times best sellers list — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Hidden_Meanings (build store)
• The Futon Critic, 'Shows A-Z — RuPaul's Drag Race on MTV' — RuPaul's Drag Race completed airing its 18th season on 17 April 2026, with RuPaul Charles as host and judge — http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/rupauls-drag-race/ (build store)

More person records

• John Roberson
• John Romita Jr.
• John Romita Sr.
• John Ruffin
• John Simmons (photographer)
• John Singleton

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-6146 · Combined Graph record U-07361 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 5 sources.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.