Alyssa Edwards

Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson,[1] known by the stage name Alyssa Edwards, is an American drag performer, choreographer, and businessperson. Edwards was known for competing in drag pageantry (notably Miss Gay America 2010) before rising to international attention as a contestant on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, becoming a fan favorite during and after her time on the show. Edwards subsequently appeared on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and starred in her own web series, Alyssa's Secret. In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her fifth on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former RuPaul's Drag Race contestants.[2]

Alyssa Edwards
Alyssa Edwards performing in Santiago de Chile, August 2016
Born
Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson

Mesquite, Texas, U.S.
Occupation
Websitethealyssaedwards.com

Johnson lives in Mesquite, Texas, where he owns and operates a dance studio, Beyond Belief Dance Company. Johnson and his dance studio are the centerpieces of a docuseries, Dancing Queen, produced by RuPaul and World of Wonder that premiered on October 5, 2018 on Netflix.[3]

Career

Johnson performs under the stage name Alyssa Edwards. She chose her name in homage to Alyssa Milano and to her drag mother Laken Edwards, a former drag queen.[4] Edwards is part of the drag family "the Haus of Edwards," and serves as drag mother to fellow RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Shangela Laquifa Wadley, Laganja Estranja, Gia Gunn, Vivienne Pinay, and Plastique Tiara.[4] Edwards was one of the judges of the 2010 California Entertainer of the Year pageant, where Shangela won.[5]

Edwards appeared in the 2008 documentary Pageant.[6] The film focused on the 34th Miss Gay America pageant of 2006.[7] On December 9, 2010, Edwards was stripped of her 2010 Miss Gay America title[8] for having business dealings in conflict with obligations to the Miss Gay America organization. First alternate Coco Montrese replaced Edwards as the winner of Miss Gay America.[9] That same year, Edwards was also stripped of her title as All American Goddess.[10]

In November 2012, Logo announced that Edwards was among 14 drag queens who would be competing on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Also performing on the show was pageant friend and rival Coco Montrese.[11]

Edwards performed and won in the ballet-themed main challenge in the "Black Swan: Why It Gotta Be Black?" episode of Rupaul's Drag Race.[12] As part of the show, Edwards sang on the "We Are the World"-inspired song "Can I Get an Amen?" The song's proceeds helped benefit the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.[13] Edwards was eliminated in episode nine, following a lip sync against Coco Montrese, and finished in sixth place. Edwards has also been a special guest on the podcast series run by RuPaul and Michelle Visage called RuPaul: What's The Tee?[14]

Edwards is also known for her web series titled "Alyssa's Secret".[15] The series stars Alyssa Edwards speaking on a multitude of subjects and often features guests including other members of the Haus of Edwards. The webseries is produced and premieres through World of Wonder Productions.[16]

Alyssa Edwards in April 2017 during DragCon at the Los Angeles Convention Center

In 2016, Edwards returned as one of 10 contestants in Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, ending in fifth place.[17] Edwards won the main challenge of the third episode titled "Herstory of the World", playing Annie Oakley in a performance featuring other famous women throughout history. She was then eliminated in episode four "Drag Movie Shequels", after playing Bland in "Wha' Ha' Happened to Baby JJ", a parody of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", with Alaska as Baby JJ.

Edwards returned in episode five "Revenge of the Queens" by winning a chance to reenter the competition, winning a comedy challenge with Alaska followed by a lip sync of Rihanna's 'Shut Up and Drive', in which both Edwards and Tatianna won. Edwards was then controversially eliminated a second time by Detox in episode seven "A Family that Drags Together", coming in fifth place overall.

In 2019, Edwards released a makeup palette in collaboration with Anastasia Beverly Hills.[18]

In Episode 2 of All Stars 5, Alyssa made a guest appearance as a "Lip Sync Assassin", where she lip-synced against Shea Couleé, but lost.

Titles

Edwards competed in and won numerous pageant titles. They include:

  • Miss Gay Texas America 2004, first alternate[19]
  • Miss Gay Texas America 2005, winner[19]
  • Miss Gay America 2005, second alternate[20]
  • Miss Northwest Regional Representative 2005, winner
  • Miss Gay America 2006, third alternate[21]
  • Miss Texas FFI 2006, winner[19]
  • Miss Gay USofA 2006, winner[19]
  • Miss Texas Continental 2007, winner[19]
  • Miss Shining Star Continental 2009, winner[19]
  • Miss Gay Mid East America 2008, first alternate
  • Miss Gay America 2009, third alternate[20]
  • Miss Gay Heartland America 2009, first alternate[22]
  • Miss Gay Heartland America 2010, first alternate[22]
  • Miss Gay America 2010, winner[20]
  • Southern Elegance All American Goddess 2010, winner[19]
  • All American Goddess 2010, winner[19]
  • National Entertainer of the Year, FI 2014, first alternate[19]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Pageant Herself Documentary
2016 Hurricane Bianca Ambrosia Salad Comedy
2018 Hurricane Bianca 2 Ambrosia Salad Comedy
2020 The Queens[23] Herself Documentary

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2010 My Life as Liz Self Episode: "Liz's Got Talent? (Part 1)"
2013 RuPaul's Drag Race Season 5 - 6th place
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked Companion show to RuPaul's Drag Race
NewNowNext Awards
2015-16 Skin Wars 2 episodes
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 2 - 5th place
2016-17 Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul 2 episodes
2016 Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen[24] Guest
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10, Episode 2
Dancing Queen Docuseries, 8 episodes
2019 RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11, Episode 7
The Bachelorette[25] Season 15, Episode 2
2020 RuPaul's Celebrity Drag Race Mentor, 2 episodes
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 5) Guest (“Lipsync Assassin”)
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked (season 2)
MTV Cribs[26] Season 2, Episode 4

Music videos
Year Title Artist Ref.
2019 "The Supreme Herself [27]
2020 "I Can't" Rigel Gemini [28]
2020 "Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrubs" Todrick Hall [29]

Web series
Year Title Role Notes
2013–2020 Alyssa's Secret[30] Self Produced by World of Wonder
2017 Once Upon A Crime[31] Princess Belle Produced by Todrick Hall
2019 Werq the World[32] Self Produced by World of Wonder
2019 Alyssa Raw[33]
2020 Headlines with Alyssa Edwards
2020 Served! with Jade Thirlwall[34] Produced by MTV
2020 God Shave the Queens Produced by World of Wonder

References
  1. "TAZO® Announces Launch of Camp TAZO Under New "Brew the Unexpected" Campaign". PR Newswire. Cision Ltd. October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  2. The Editors (June 10, 2019). "The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America: Ranking the new establishment". New York. Archived from the original on June 10, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  3. Desk, TV News. "Drag Superstar Alyssa Edwards to Star in Docu-Series DANCING QUEEN on Netflix".
  4. Duren, Rand (21 November 2012). "Meet Alyssa Edwards, the fabulous drag queen from Mesquite who will appear on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on 2013-03-26. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  5. Addams, Calpernia. "California EOY 2010 – The Recap". Calpernia.com. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  6. "Pageant (2008) - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  7. Higbee, Johnathan (3 November 2009). "A Pair of Queens". Instinct. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  8. "Suspended Contestant and Affiliate Registry". Miss Gay America. Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  9. Blanchard, Steve (3 March 2010). "Coco Montrese is crowned Miss Gay America 2010". Watermark. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  10. Nelson, Maxine (30 January 2013). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 5 Premiere: A Fomenting Feud". Yahoo! Voices. Archived from the original on 2013-06-12. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  11. Coughlan, Maggie (19 November 2012). "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 5 Contestants Announced". People. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  12. Framke, Caroline (19 February 2013). "Black Swan: Why It Gotta Be Black?". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  13. Parker, Lyndsey (5 March 2013). "Great Musical Moments In Reality TV: RuPaul's "Can I Get An Amen"". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  14. "Episodes". RuPaul: What's The Tee?.
  15. "Alyssa's Secret". worldofwonder.net.
  16. World of Wonder (production company)
  17. "Logo Announces Contestants For "RuPaul's All Star Drag Race" Season 2".
  18. Stiefvater, Sarah (29 May 2013). "Drag Queens Are Taking Over the Makeup Industry (and Honestly, It's About Damn Time)". PureWow. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  19. "Alyssa Edwards". Our Community Roots. 15 June 2018.
  20. "Miss Gay America". Our Community Roots. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  21. "Miss Gay America 2006". Miss Gay America. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  22. Jones, Arnold (2 November 2009). "Dallas' Alyssa Edwards wins Miss Gay America". Dallas Voice. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  23. Dunne, Peter (August 7, 2020). "The Queens documentary focuses on the trans contestants of major drag pageant". GCN. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  24. Zeff, Nigel (March 1, 2016). "Ru Girls Jessica Wild, Alyssa Edwards, and Shangela Served Up Jennifer Lopez Realness on Watch What Happens Live!". WorldOfWonder. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  25. Rudolph, Christopher (May 23, 2019). "Watch Alyssa Edwards and Alaska Judge a Speedo Pageant on "The Bachelorette"". NewNowNext. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  26. "MTV Cribs Gets a Glimpse Inside the Fabulous Haus of Alyssa Edwards". www.pride.com. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  27. Frye, Javay (2019-05-21). "Alyssa Edwards' New Music Video Is Sickening! You Need To Watch It Now". WorldofWonder.net. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  28. Megarry, Daniel. "Premiere: Rigel Gemini drops I Can't music video featuring Alyssa Edwards and Gia Gunn". GayTimes. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  29. Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrubs (Official Video). Todrick Hall. April 29, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  30. Horbelt, Stephan (24 May 2013). "Always & Forever, Alyssa Edwards". Frontiers. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  31. Henry Scott (August 16, 2017). ""Once Upon A Crime With Alyssa Edwards & Valentina" | Todrick Hall". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  32. Joey Nolfi (May 16, 2019). "Drag Race's Shangela, Alyssa Edwards, more Werq the World in new series trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  33. Niemetz, Spencer (November 13, 2019). "Alyssa Edwards is Back Back Back Again in WOW Presents Plus Three-Part Limited Series, "Alyssa Raw"". World of Wonder. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  34. Dan Seddon (May 29, 2020). "Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall makes awkward blunder in new show with Drag Race icon Alyssa Edwards". DigitalSpy.com. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
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