Miss Coco Peru

Coco Peru (interviewed by David Shankbone) talks about how to make a rough life funny. Miss Coco Peru (born August 27, 1965) is the drag persona of American actor, comedian and drag performer Clinton Leupp, known for her role in the 1999 independent film Trick and for her series of live theater performances. Recognizable by her "trademark copper-toned flip hairdo", Peru also starred in Richard Day's Girls Will Be Girls (2003) and was one of six performers featured in the Logo original stand-up comedy series Wisecrack (2005). She has also appeared in a number of other supporting and guest-starring roles in film and television. Peru's guests have included Bea Arthur, Liza Minnelli, Lesley Ann Warren, Karen Black, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. He was raised Catholic and attended the Catholic Cardinal Spellman High School. He studied theatre at Adelphi University. Calling himself "a gay guy who was never going to be passing for straight", he said that he had just started college when homophobic slurs were directed at him. Peru next had a role in the 1997 romantic comedy Nick and Jane. Her follow-up was the 1999 independent film Trick.

In 2008 Leupp said, "I'm not impersonating a woman. It's just an extension of me. I'm telling autobiographical stories, and Coco gives me the freedom to be a little more outrageous and say things I wouldn't say in everyday life ... Drag allows me to embrace a lot of the things I hated about myself growing up ... Having been called a girl-boy and all that, drag is a way of saying, I'm going to embrace everything that anybody said about me, and put it out there on stage. People have said I shouldn't call myself a drag queen, that I do a disservice to myself. My reaction is I'm proud to be what I am. When I see video footage of Stonewall, I am proud to be a part of that history. I'm not saying that I am historical, but just being out there doing the drag, on television, in movies ... I have young nephews ... who know Coco, and who think it's great that I dress up as a girl. In this way, I am changing the world." In 2006, they married in Spain, where same-sex marriage was legal at a time before it was in the United States. According to the school, Father Donald Timone would speak to parents about Catholic groups intended to convince children "struggling with same-sex attraction" to live "chaste lives through participation in support groups." 1992 Miss Coco Peru: A Legend in Progress and Backstage Bistro Award win) 1995 Miss Coco Peru at the Westbeth Theatre (2004 GLAAD Media Award win, 2007 Ugly Coco 2011 Miss Coco Peru: There Comes a Time (Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC) 2012–present Miss Coco Peru: She's Got Balls (Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC; In 2012 Peru said that she started doing "Conversations" after being interviewed herself; with the host departing, the Center asked if she would like to continue the series. Lainie Kazan (November 12, 2005) Charles Busch (April 7, 2006) Lily Tomlin (April 3, 2010) Karen Black (October 23, 2010) Lesley Ann Warren (February 14, 2011) - Castro Theatre, San Francisco Jane Fonda (April 20, 2013) - Renberg Theater

Filmography +Television and film Year Project Role Notes 1994 New York Undercover Lucille TV series/Episode: "Blondes Have More Fun" 1995 To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar Miss Coco Peru Film Wigstock: The Movie Self/Miss Coco Peru Documentary 1997 Nick and Jane Miss Coco Film 1999 Trick Miss Coco Peru Film (credited as Clinton Leupp) Rude Awakening Director TV series/Episode: "Slackula" 2001 Will & Grace Lawrence TV series/Episode: "Moveable Feast" 2003 Girls Will Be Girls Coco Film 2022 Dead End: Paranormal Park Pauline Phoenix Netflix original animated series

Reviews Edge Boston called Coco Peru "one of the most recognizable figures of the New York drag scene and beyond."