Courtney Act

Jenek's drag queen career began in 2002 when he met Sydney drag queen, Vanity Fair.[12] He was intrigued by the visual and feminine allusion Fair would create once he was in drag and this inspired him to begin his drag career.[12] His decided upon the stage name Courtney Act, as in a non-rhotic accent like the Australian accent, the phrase "caught in the act" is said.[12] Courtney stated back in 2002 when he began drag, you had to "fight" and "earn" your place as a drag queen.[12] He entered Diva Rising Star competition in 2002 and won.[12]

In 2003, Courtney auditioned for the inaugural season of Australian Idol. He first appeared as Jenek, but the judges, Ian Dickson, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden, told Jenek that his voice was "just not up to it".[12] The following day, Jenek returned to audition but as Courtney Act.[12] Hines said that Courtney was "great". Dickson said, "Shane only didn't just cut it. You've added another dimension and this time you've blown us away."[12] Courtney continued through the competition and reached the live finals.[12] The first TV vote, Courtney didn't get through; however, the judges brought her back as one of the wildcards.[12] During his time on the show he performed songs such as: "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy, "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore and "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC. Courtney came thirteenth on the show, but remained highly anticipated throughout Australia. At the time, Jenek was the first and only LGBT contestant to openly appear on a reality TV talent show.[6]

After the completion of the first season of Australian Idol, Courtney went on tour with the finalist of the show. It was in 2003, Courtney signed a major record deal with BMG Australia now known as Sony Music Australia. Courtney released her debut single "Rub Me Wrong" the following year in March 2004, where the song reached a peak of number 29 on the ARIA Charts and gaining a gold certification by the charts. However, due to the low charting figures of the song, BMG Australia decided to put Courtney's debut album on hold. Courtney returned to the club scene and began working with the up-and-coming Lady Gaga.[12] In August 2011, Jenek moved to West Hollywood, California in order to find further success.

RuPaul is there in the room, what you see on TV is all of what you get, there is not anything beyond that. There is no friendship. I’ve chosen to focus on that legend of RuPaul, just like with everyone there is the legend and there is the human. When RuPaul blocked me [on Twitter] that was it." Courtney on her feud with RuPaul[15]

In December 2013, Logo TV announced that Courtney was among the 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[16] Courtney is the only ever queen to be featured on the show to be from Australia. Courtney did not feature in the first episode of season 6 due to the show being split into two openings. During the third episode, the week's challenge was to act in a horror movie, the original and the sequel. Courtney is ultimately given positive feedback and declared safe. Episode 4 featured Courtney as the main challenge winner.[17] The main challenge was to perform in Shade: The Rusical". Courtney was praised for her "strong" singing voice and acting skills.[17] The fifth episode features the Snatch Game, which is a spoof of The Match Game.

During the episode the drag queens have to impersonate a celebrity, which Courtney impersonated Fran Drescher and she was ultimate declared safe. The following show, Courtney had to record a version of RuPaul's song, "Oh No She Betta Don't!" from his album, again Courtney was declared safe. During the seventh episode, the queens had to create a commercial advert for RuPaul's new product, Glamazon by Colorevolution, working in a team with Joslyn Fox. The pair got negative critiques from the judges, with Santino Rice, saying the pair shouldn't rely on pretty and that they could have taken it "further".[17] The next episode would see the queens being tested on their comedy, Courtney, who announced on the show she was nervous about the challenge because she does not see herself as a "comedy queen". Ultimately, Courtney was declared safe for the episode. The ninth episode's challenge, the queens had to host their own talk show and interview celebrity guest: Cher's son Chaz Bono and his grandmother (Cher's mother), Georgia Holt.[17] Courtney was praised by all the judges and through the show, Courtney and Bono made a friendship, which resulted in Bono inviting Courtney to perform in the musical he was producing.[17] Courtney also won the ninth episode challenge. The tenth episode saw a makeover challenge, which the queens had to make grooms to be, into the bride. Courtney was declared safe. The following few episodes, Courtney was announced as safe and would proceed to the final as the top 3. Courtney was the fourth contestant during its six seasons not to have fallen into the bottom two throughout the competition. She placed as a joint runner-up alongside Adore Delano, behind winner Bianca Del Rio.

In July 2014, Courtney became the first drag performer in history to sing live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Courtney appeared as a guest performer with Cheyenne Jackson in "Hello, Gorgeous! Cheyenne Jackson Goes to the Movies". The two sang a duet of "Elephant Love Song" from the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge![18] In September 2014, Courtney, along with Willam Belli and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, were the first drag queens to become ad girls for American Apparel, known as The AAA Girls, also becoming the first drag queens to feature in RuPaul's Drag Race to form a drag girl-group. She worked for the campaign Support Artists, Support Ethical Manufacturing of the fashion brand, featuring three limited exclusive T-shirts that honour each drag queen's talents and allure.[19] The group released their debut single "American Apparel Ad Girls" in late 2014 a parody of "Farrah Fawcett Hair" by Capital Cities.[20] The song charted at number 10 on the Billboard Comedy Digital songs chart,[21] the song would later feature in Belli's solo album, Shartistry in Motion (2014). In December 2015, the group released a Christmas song, "Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man", which was featured in the first Christmas Queens (2015). The album also seen Courtney cover a solo version of "Twelve Days of Christmas" and The AAA Girls, also recorded a second song featured on the compilation album, "Christmas Sweater". Again in June 2015, the group reunited to record for Alaska's debut studio album, Anus (2015), where the group collaborated on the track, "The Shade of It All".[22] Together with business partner and fellow drag queen Vanity Faire, Courtney operates Wigs by Vanity; they started the company in 2003 with the aim of producing wigs for drag queens.[23]

The AAA Girls performing in Denver, 2017.

The following year in July 2015, Courtney returned to recording solo career and created the extended play Kaleidoscope (2015).[24] The album generally received positives critics and it saw release of lead single "Ecstasy". Followed by "Ugly", "Body Parts" and the title track song, "Kaleidoscope". The latter featured as the official song for the 2016 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.[25] Courtney stated: "I feel that gender and sexuality are fluid and so often we get stuck in the rigidity. Who knows when someone outside your usual target zone might come also and sweep you off your feet? I read this quote from Lily Edelstein the other day it is seemed fitting “At the heart of Queer culture is revolution. The truest rebellion against a world built on categories, labels and binaries is coming from the emergence of identities that refuse to conform.”.[25] In 2016, Courtney was the foreign correspondent for the Australian news website, Junkee. Courtney covered the US Presidential election 2016 for the site, attending rallies of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Following Trump's election, Courtney also participated in and reported on the 2017 Women's March.[26]

In late 2017, Courtney made a return to reality television and appeared in Single AF, with Marnie Simpson, which is a celebrity dating show, broadcast on MTV UK.[27] In February 2018, Courtney was appointed one of two Fringe Ambassadors at the Adelaide Fringe, presenting the show Under the Covers there.[28] In 2017, Courtney reunited with The AAA Girls for the Access All Areas Tour (2017). The tour was announced August 2017, a month after the release of their EP. Produced by Fullscreen Live,[29] the tour played 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The show was promoted as a full production with full staging, costume changes and choreography. As a thank you, the group live called fans, on Instagram, who purchased tickets. The Squared Division served are creative directors and Jae Fusz serves as choreographer.[30]

In 2018, Courtney entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, the day after New Years Day, and remained in the house for 32 days and eventually winning the season, beating Ann Widdecombe. Jenek appeared as both Courtney and himself, throughout the season being referred to "him" out of drag and "her" in drag.[31] Following Courtney's win on Big Brother, her popularity continued to grow in the United Kingdom and tabloid newspaper The Sun published a report on 21 November 2018 claiming that Courtney would receive £50,000 for appearing in a programme entitled The Courtney Act Show; Channel 4 confirmed the programme two days later, with Courtney saying that she would be "working with some of [her] favourite artists".[32][33] which was broadcast on Christmas Eve of 2018. The show features performances from Bianca Del Rio, Adore Delano, Darienne Lake and Leona Lewis.[34] Jenek also hosted the dating reality show The Bi Life, appearing both as Courtney Act and Shane, and which premiered in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 25 October 2018 on E![35][36][37] Courtney competed with the song "Fight for Love" on Eurovision - Australia Decides in February 2019 to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, but was not successful, losing out to Kate Miller-Heidke, with the song "Zero Gravity".[38] The show received positive reviews.[38]

In 2019, Courtney competed in the 16th season of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Joshua Keefe, where they came second.[9] Courtney is the first drag performer in the history of the Dancing with the Stars franchise,[39] but not the first to perform in a same-sex pairing[40] – fashion designer Giovanni Ciacci and professional dancer Raimondo Todaro reached the grand final in the series of Ballando con le Stelle, the show's Italian counterpart.[41] Keefe was visibly surprised when Jenek arrived for their first meeting, before realising that he is the alter-ego of Courtney.[9] Jenek and Keefe dance as a same-sex pairing in the rehearsal footage for each week's performance[40] and he has expressed a desire to perform as Jenek as well, according to Gay Star News.[42] Courtney and Keefe topped the leader board with their performance in the first episode.[40]

On 1 March 2019, it was announced that Courtney had filmed a guest role as herself in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Her scenes aired in 2020.[43] In late 2019, Courtney featured in Celebrity Come Dine with Me. Courtney has appeared twice as a contestant on the quiz show Celebrity Mastermind; the British version in 2018,[44] and the Australian version in 2020.[45]