Willam Belli

Willam Belli (/ˈ b ɛ l aɪ / , born June 30, 1982), mononymously known as Willam, is an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, reality television personality, author, and YouTuber. Willam came to prominence as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012, but was disqualified in the "Frenemies" challenge.

Before appearing on Drag Race, Willam worked as an actor, most notably playing the recurring role of transgender woman Cherry Peck in Ryan Murphy's medical drama Nip/Tuck. She has continued to perform in a variety of films, television series and web series, often in drag. In 2018, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born. For her performance on the dark comedy web series EastSiders, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.

Since 2012, Willam has recorded three albums of comedy music, mostly consisting of parodies of popular songs. Her second album, Shartistry in Motion, debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. Between 2012 and 2014, she recorded several songs as part of the group DWV (alongside drag queens Vicky Vox and Detox), including the parodies "Chow Down" and "Boy Is a Bottom", whose music videos were viral successes. Following the breakup of DWV, Willam formed another drag supergroup, the AAA Girls, with Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck.

Willam Belli was born to Debbi Ruzic Belli in Philadelphia. He is the younger of two children. He has a sister, Samantha. Belli states he is of Yugoslav and Italian heritage. He lived in Florida for middle school and high school. Belli's father worked at the Kennedy Space Center. His aunt is television director Mary Lou Belli.

Growing up, Willam frequently illustrated dresses, to which many people assumed that he wanted to become a fashion designer, but he asserted that he designed the garments with the intent to wear them himself. He later worked in costume design in theatre, and, at the age of 13, he was put in drag for the first time at a closing night party. From there, he would dress in drag to watch performances of The Rocky Horror Show, and was paid for a drag performance for the first time at the age of 16.

Belli was overweight when he was young but lost the extra pounds by becoming vegetarian before being emancipated at 16. Belli met his husband, Bruce, at nineteen. They were married on September 9, 2008.[10]

Belli's first acting credit was as the role of a street hustler named Bart Jaker on two episodes of The District (2002) and his first TV appearance was on an episode of the game show Street Smarts.[11] He later appeared in the TV series Boston Public, Cold Case, The Shield, My Name Is Earl and most notably Nip/Tuck as the transgender character Cherry Peck. Throughout the 2000s he would go on to play small roles in many television shows. He also had a small role in the film American Wedding.

In 2008, Belli was featured on the single artwork for the song "Breakin' Up" by Rilo Kiley.[12] He has also modeled as part of the Tranimal Master Class Workshop at the Machine Project, which was photographed by Austin Young.[13]

Belli is a member of the band Tranzkuntinental, which made its debut at The Roxy in 2009. The band was started by Charlie Paulson and Xander Smith and features drag queens Detox, Kelly Mantle, Rhea Litré, and Vicky Vox.[14][15]

In January 2011, he was featured in Rihanna's music video "S&M" along with Detox and Morgan McMichaels as back-up dancers.[16]

World of Wonder contacted Willam's management asking for her to audition for the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. She decided to apply after being rejected for an acting role in Don Johnson's pilot, A Mann's World, when the casting director of the pilot (which later went unaired), who had previously cast Willam in Cinema Verite, didn't cast her because she was not a "name". The role later went to Cara Cunningham. In November 2011, Logo TV announced that Belli was among 13 contestants competing on the fourth season.[17] Fellow castmate Chad Michaels had competed with Belli in the California Entertainer of the Year Pageant in 2010.[18] Belli won the main challenges in the episodes "Float Your Boat" and "Frenemies", but was disqualified in the latter.[19] In the episode "Reunited", Belli stated that her disqualification was due to conjugal visits made by his husband in his hotel room.[20] By Belli's own account however, in the years since airing season 4, Willam has refuted the "official story" in multiple interviews.[21]

Belli's most recent reassertion about the circumstances of her disqualification is in an interview with YouTuber Joseph Shepherd in February 2019, where Belli claims that the 'so-called' official reason was just a fabrication by the show's creators for the purpose of portraying a more palatable scenario of Belli's departure from the show. In that interview, Willam claimed that the genuine reason for his removal was due to increasing hostilities and issues between the contestants and the crew, and that, whenever she had broken the rules, she would report it directly to production in hopes of being removed from the show. Willam claims that many members of the crew were rude and condescending towards the drag queens in general, with some of the crew members not even bothering to try to learn the contestant's names - sharing one example of a crew member repeatedly calling season 4 fellow contestant Latrice Royale "La-something", despite all the crew having cards with the photographs of the queens/contestants (in and out of drag) worn around their necks. At one point, Willam verbally barked at a production member for not knowing Latrice's name "just because (Willam) felt like it". Willam, along with cast members such as Royale and Chad Michaels, attempted to make a stand against the production members.

Willam also claimed that, outside of filming hours, the queens weren't being adequately fed, noting that $75 was all that was allocated to feed the 12 contestants- Willam claims that this necessitated visits to the store for food. Willam also revealed that she frequently got other contestants high and/or drunk, attempted to steal items from the set such as feather fans and RuPaul-branded Ironfist shoes, and had access to a computer in her hotel room, which was outlawed by production, in order to run her "go-go boy side hustle". She has additionally claimed to have had sex in the bathroom of Micky's Weho, a local club, with producer Steven Corfe, whom she had previously made apologize to her for asking her to leave Untucked after Willam spoke out about "emotional manipulation" being done to Jiggly Caliente over the one-year anniversary of her mother's death. As the two were being escorted out of the bathroom after being discovered having sex, Corfe is said to have thrown a cup at the performer on stage that night, fellow Drag Race alum Raven, getting the two ejected from the club. Outside of the club, the duo ran into more World of Wonder staff members, including Drag Race producer Chris McKim (claimed by Willam to be Corfe's best friend), who had to physically separate the two, as they were still "making out". Weeks later, Corfe allegedly contacted Willam again and invited her out to lunch with the intent to chat with her and "get (Willam) back in with World of Wonder", of which Willam obliged. According to Belli, the conjugal visit story was made up by producers and Willam agreed to "go along with the excuse" so that "everyone looked okay".[22][23] Belli used the publicity of his disqualification to release his single "Chow Down", which was a parody of Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" that addressed the 2012 Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy. The song featured Detox and Vicky Vox.[24]

On March 12, 2012, she released her first single "Trouble", which was produced by RuPaul's Red Hot collaborator Tom Trujillo. The music video for the song was directed by porn director Chi Chi LaRue and premiered on Logo TV.[25] On March 21, Belli released "The Vagina Song", a parody of "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars as his third single, which had been previously uploaded to YouTube in 2010. The music video was directed by Michael Serrato,[26] who also directed Belli's music video for "Chow Down".[24]

Belli released "Love You Like a Big Schlong" on April 29, 2012, which became a viral hit being viewed more than a million times on YouTube alone. Produced by Uncle Slam, the song parodies "Love You Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez & the Scene. The song was inspired by Belli's loss to 7-year-old Eden Wood in a lip syncing contest during a segment of the 2012 NewNowNext Awards.[27]

In November 2012, Belli was featured with country music artist Drake Jensen on a cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man".[28] That same month, Belli self-released her debut album The Wreckoning via his website.[29]

Willam has claimed that she was originally cast on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2012, but was dropped from the cast two days before filming was scheduled to begin. The reason given to Willam by production was that they did not see her "having stakes or stories with any of the girls". Willam believes that she was dropped from the cast because of her appearance on RuPaul's Drag U a few months prior, which she had only appeared on because another queen, later claimed to be Phi Phi O'Hara, had allegedly failed her background check, and, as Willam believes that she would've had the "most stakes" with Phi Phi (who no longer could appear on the show), resulted in Willam being dropped from the cast. She has also stated that she believes her replacement in the cast was Mimi Imfurst. Phi Phi later appeared on the next season of All Stars.

Beginning in December 2012, Belli began a YouTube series associated with thestylishvids titled "Willam's Beatdown". A comedy segment involving insult humor and video reviews, the series would eventually be renewed for a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth season that then premiered on Belli's self-titled channel. In January 2013, Belli would have his biggest viral hit with 20 million hits on YouTube alone, when he released "Boy Is a Bottom", featuring Detox and Vicky Vox, to coincide with the fifth season premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race.[30] Its timing and the use of social media made it a very well received release. The song is a parody of "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys and also features an altered version of the "breakdown" from "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" by En Vogue.[31] "Boy Is a Bottom" debuted at number six on Billboard's Comedy Digital Songs, selling 3,000 downloads in its first week.[32]

On August 14, 2013, Belli was featured along with Shangela, Detox, Raven, Morgan McMichaels, Landon Cider, Shannel, and Courtney Act, in Lady Gaga's lyric video for her single "Applause".

Belli's trio, including Detox and Vicky Vox, called DWV, officially split in June 2014 due to a personal conflict between the members.[33]

Belli then became an American Apparel Ad Girl alongside Drag Race alumni Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 which they supported with a single entitled, "American Apparel Ad Girls".[34][35] They also released a second single together, "Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man" for the Christmas season.[36][37]

On January 13, 2017, he released a solo version of the DWV hit "Boy Is a Bottom", in Spanish, entitled, "Es Una Pasiva",[38] which went on to top the comedy iTunes chart.[39] Belli self-released his sophomore studio album, Shartistry in Motion, on June 2.[40][41]

Belli released his first book Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way in October 2016 through Grand Central Publishing. In 2017, he released his first perfume collaboration with Xyrena, Scented by Willam.[42]

On May 18, 2017, it was revealed that Fullscreen had ordered a talk show to be hosted by Belli. Suck Less, billed as a weekly half-hour call-in show 'where Willam throws shade and shows how to slay the game of life in six-inch stilettos' is set to debut in the summer. Friends from Belli's everyday life, as well as some of his favorite drag queens are expected to put in guest appearances over the course of the 13-episode series.[43]

In 2018, Willam appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born. Willam and fellow drag queen Shangela play queens working in a drag bar alongside Lady Gaga's character Ally when she's discovered by famous country singer Jackson Maine, played by Bradley Cooper. Willam's character, Emerald, is a Dolly Parton impersonator who flirts with Jackson. The dialogue in his scenes was mostly improvised, including a memorable moment in which his character has Jackson autograph her silicone breastplate. Bradley Cooper, who also directed the film, said that Willam and Shangela "blew his mind" with their ad-libbing.[44]

On July 18, 2018, the first episode of Belli's Drag Race-themed podcast co-hosted with Alaska Thunderfuck and entitled Race Chaser, was published on the Forever Dog Network.[45] In 2020 Alaska and Willam announced that they would be setting up their own podcast network in collaboration with Forever Dog, Moguls of Media (MOM), featuring a "star-studded roster of iconic drag queens and queer luminaries" to bridge "the past, present, and future of LGBTQ+ entertainment".[46] Podcasts established under the Moguls of Media brand and executive produced by Willam and Alaska include The Chop, hosted by Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon; Very That, hosted by Delta Work and Raja; Hi Jinkx!, hosted by Jinkx Monsoon; Famous This Week, hosted by Priyanka and formerly Brooke Lynn Hytes; Sloppy Seconds, hosted by Big Dipper and Meatball; Wanna Be On Top?, hosted by Shea Couleé; and Hall & Closet, hosted by Jaida Essence Hall and Heidi N Closet.[46]

In 2019, Belli launched his own makeup line, Suck Less Face & Body.[47] In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her ninth on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.[48]

In 2021, Belli was announced as the star of Iconic Justice, a courtroom show in which Belli will hear and rule on various legal and social disputes between LGBTQ people.[49]

In May 2021 Belli made their West End debut in the play Death Drop, an all-drag spoof on an Agatha Christie murder mystery billed as a "Dragatha Christie".[50] They reprised the performance on a tour across the UK[51] before returning to the West End in late 2022 to headline a sequel Death Drop: Back in the Habit again followed by a UK tour.[52] They reprised their performance in the original play when it premiered Off-Broadway in Summer 2023.[53]

Belli was nominated for his performance on the Netflix dark comedy web series EastSiders at the 47th Daytime Emmy Awards.

Belli was nominated for his role on RuPaul's Drag Race at the fifth annual NewNowNext Awards which aired on Logo network on April 9, 2012. He lost to Nadia G. of Bitchin' Kitchen which airs on the Food Network Canada and the Cooking Channel.[77]