El Daña

Elsie Saldaña, better known by her stage name El Daña (born October 15, 1944), is an American drag king and LGBTQ+ activist who holds the Guinness World Record for oldest drag king in the world. She has been an active drag king in the Central Valley since 1965, when she first got on stage, and gained national attention after being featured in StoryCorps. She gained further attention after being named the oldest active drag king in the world. She was named to the Out100 list of influential LGBTQ+ celebrities in 2025.

Biography Saldaña was born on October 15, 1944, into a family of farmworkers in Riverside who were part of the Bracero Program. She was the oldest of 7, and soon after her family moved to Fresno, when she was 5, began helping her family out by picking figs, cotton, and grapes. She knew she was attracted to girls from a young age, and began doing impersonations mimicking her brothers.

In 1965, she auditioned and stepped onto the stage of one of the few gay bars in the area, Red Robin, as a drag king, or as she called it then a "male impersonator", without ever having seen a drag king. She hid her drag outfits from her mother in paper bags during her early performances, knowing she wouldn't approve. Since her first year, she has prayed before every show she performs. Her crooner specialty and Tom Jones imitation impressed audiences enough that they threw bras at her. in 1980.

She retired from drag for a decade after her son, Mark, died at 29.

In 2024, she received the Harvey Milk Award from Anna Caballero. In 2025, she was officially named the oldest active drag king in the world by the Guinness World Records. She was also named to the Out 100 in 2025. Her work has also been placed in the archives of California State University, Fresno.

As of 2025, she works as a house cleaner to make ends meet, as her social security check is insufficient to support her. She resides in Clovis, California.