Peppermint

Peppermint, or Miss Peppermint (born January 31, 1980), is an American actress, singer, songwriter, television personality, drag queen, and LGBTQ activist based in New York City. She competed on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2017, finishing as the runner-up. Peppermint made her debut in The Go-Go's-inspired musical Head Over Heels in 2018, becoming Broadway's first out trans woman to originate a lead role.

As a recording artist, she has released the studio albums Hardcore Glamour (2009) and Black Pepper (2017), as well as five EPs, including A Girl Like Me: Letters to My Lovers (2020). Peppermint was cast for the second season of The Traitors, which aired in 2024.

Early life Peppermint was raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. She transitioned after moving to New York City and came out in 2012, For a time, she also worked as a makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics. She contributed the song "Servin' It Up", produced by Adam Joseph, for the 2005 Jonny McGovern release This is NYC, Bitch! The East Village Mixtape, later released as Peppermint's debut single in 2006.

Peppermint was featured in the web series Queens of Drag: NYC by gay.com in 2010. The series featured fellow New York drag queens Bianca Del Rio, Dallas DuBois, Hedda Lettuce, Lady Bunny, Mimi Imfurst, and Sherry Vine. She also appeared as a drag-version of Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model Cycle 14, Episode 5: "Smile and Pose" introducing a drag-theme runway challenge at Lucky Chengs in New York City.

RuPaul's Drag Race

Peppermint talked about being trans publicly for the first time on an episode of The Daily Show called "The Trans Panic Epidemic" in April 2016.

On February 2, 2017, Peppermint was announced as one of the fourteen contestants on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Though other transgender women have competed on RuPaul's Drag Race, she was the first to have come out prior to the show airing, having come out in 2012.

She won the Roast Challenge in episode 8. She placed in the bottom two in two challenges, lip-synching to Madonna's "Music" and the Village People's "Macho Man", winning both. Her performances earned her the favorable nickname "Lip Sync Assassin". Ultimately, she finished in second place to winner Sasha Velour, after they both lip-synced to Whitney Houston's "It's Not Right but It's Okay (Thunderpuss Remix)".

Music Peppermint's debut studio album Hardcore Glamour was self-released in 2009 and preceded by the singles "Servin' It Up" and "Thought Ya Knew". In 2011, Sherry Vine and Peppermint released a parody of the Lady Gaga and Beyoncé song "Telephone" titled "Make Me Moan". Following the viral success of the music video, Peppermint later released other parody songs, including a parody of Azealia Banks' song "212", titled "21/12". Her song "If I Steal Your Boyfriend" was used in the 2011 film Eating Out 5: The Open Weekend.

On April 3, 2017, Peppermint released a six-track EP of remixes of various songs she had released up to that point, including the single "Dolla in My Titty". Her second studio album Black Pepper was released in June of the same year. A three-song EP with producer Cazwell called Blend was released in 2018. In 2019, Peppermint appeared on fellow Drag Race alum Trinity the Tuck's single "I Call Shade", which charted at number 13 on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.

On February 11, 2020, it was announced that Peppermint was working on a new album, and the lead single "What You're Looking For" was released on February 14, 2020. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight on August 28, 2020, Peppermint stated that the album would in fact be a trilogy of EPs, and that a full studio album was previously planned for a May 2020 release but was delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The first of these EPs, A Girl Like Me: Letters to My Lovers, will be released on October 16, 2020, with the lead single "Best Sex" being released on October 2. Of the project, she said "it really does focus on my life -- who I am as a trans woman -- and everything that's happening right now [with] Black Lives Matter, Black Trans Lives Matter and a lot of the issues that we are dealing with socially." She also confirmed that the project would feature collaborations with Laith Ashley, Jerome Bell, Daniel Shevlin of Well-Strung, Matt Katz-Bohen of Blondie, Corey Tut and Adam Joseph.

The EP garnered Peppermint a nomination for Outstanding Music Artist at the 2021 GLAAD Media Awards.

On November 17, 2023, Peppermint released the debut single "STILETTO" with her newly announced pop music supergroup TransSisterRadio consisting of fellow members CASio (Clint Ashley Spires) original member of NYC underground music groups DaLipstyxx (Paper Magazine's Sounds of the City), THE KIKI TWINS and Synthia (Stephan Alexander) stage performer and recording artist.

TransSisterRadio released their highly anticipated follow-up single “TASTY” on March 22, 2024. They subsequently made their debut performance and first public appearance on April 4, 2024, at the party LolliPOP at the club RedEye NY. As of April 20, 2024 “STILETTO” and its remixes by DJ Erik Elias & NOAH along with “TASTY” have amassed more than 200,000+ streams on Spotify.

Acting

Peppermint made her Broadway debut in The Go-Go's-inspired musical Head Over Heels using the songs of The Go-Go's. The plot of the show is somewhat based on The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia written by Sir Philip Sidney in the 16th century. The show began previews in June 2018 and officially opened July 2018, at the Hudson Theatre; playing the role of Pythio, Peppermint became the first trans woman to originate a principal role on Broadway. In Entertainment Weekly, Kelly Connolly viewed the show more favorably, praising "the charismatic cast" and Michael Mayer's "joyful production"; she gave the A− score overall. The New York Timess critic Ben Brantley's review drew criticism as transphobic and misgendering of Peppermint's character. The Times subsequently edited the review and Brantley apologized for it, writing that he had tried to "reflect the light tone of the show". The show closed in January 2019.

Peppermint has had appearances on Pose and Saturday Night Live, and in October 2019 played the role of Pastor Olivia, "the [transgender] leader of an LGBTQ-friendly congregation", in a two-episode arc of God Friended Me.

Continued career

From 2019 to 2020, she co-hosted It's a Mess podcast with Cazwell.

Peppermint is a co-founder of Black Queer Town Hall along with Bob The Drag Queen. The inaugural event featured speakers such as Laverne Cox and Angela Davis and raised over $270,000 for The Okra Project.

On June 2, 2021, Peppermint was announced as a cast member of OUTtv's Call Me Mother, where her and fellow "Drag Mothers" Crystal and Barbada de Barbades adopt and mentor up-and-coming drag talent over an eight-week journey as they compete to win the title of "First Child Of Drag" and a $50,000 prize package. In the show, Peppermint will be representing the House of Dulcet.

In September 2023, it was announced that Peppermint would be a contestant on Peacock's second season of The Traitors. The season was released in January 2024.

In 2025, Peppermint contributed the essay "I'm Still Learning" to the anthology Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color, edited by Denne Michele Norris with Electric Literature. The collection became a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.

Public image She does not use her birth name, and asks that publications not deadname her. For several years, she went by the name "Angel", which derived from her portraying Angel in a one-act production of Rent.

Discography

Studio albums Title Details Hardcore Glamour Released: June 21, 2017 Label: Hardcore Glamour Formats: digital download

Comedy albums Title Details Si-SIGH-Ety Effects Released: April 21, 2023 Label: Comedy Dynamics Formats: digital download, streaming

Extended plays Title Details Sugar & Spiked Released: April 3, 2017 Label: JRED Music Formats: CD, digital download Blend (with Cazwell) Released: March 10, 2018 Label: SNOWCONE Formats: digital download A Girl Like Me: Letters to My Lovers Released: October 16, 2020 Label: Producer Entertainment Group Format: vinyl, CD, digital download Letters (The Remixes) Released: April 16, 2021 Label: Producer Entertainment Group Format: digital download, streaming Moment of Weakness: Letters to My Lovers Released: April 22, 2022 Label: Producer Entertainment Group Format: digital download, streaming

Singles As lead artist

As featured artist Title Year Peak chart positions Album US Comedy Dig. "Category Is" 2017 — "Thirsty" — "I Call Shade" 2019 13 Plastic

Other appearances Title Year Other artist(s) Album "We Three Queens" 2017 Manila Luzon and Alaska Thunderfuck Christmas Queens 3 "What Child Is This" Thorgy Thor "R U Mad" 2018 Michael Blume and Shea Coulee Cynicism & Sincerity "Pretty Girl Anthem" Jiggly Caliente T.H.O.T. Process "Vision of Nowness" Original Broadway Cast of Head Over Heels Head Over Heels (Original Broadway Cast Recording) "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" Jeremy Kushnier, Rachel York, and Original Broadway Cast of Head Over Heels "Whoever You Might Be" 2020 Jackson Teeley Within Earshot: Anthems for the In-Between

Music videos Title Year Director(s) "Servin' It Up" 2006 "Thought Ya' Knew" 2008 "Working Girl" 2009 "Excuse My Beauty" 2010 Brendan Kyle Cochrane "Let You Have It" Karl Giant "Fresh" 2011 "Dolla in My Titty" 2014 "Too Funky" 2017 Marsin "Civil War" Mikhail Torich "Blend" 2018 Brenden T. R. Gregory "Black Pepper" Assaad Yacoub "Vision of Nowness" 2019 Tyler Stone "The Most Office" 2020 Jake Wilson

Parody music videos Title Year Director(s) "Make Me Moan" 2010 Blake Martin "JLo Papi" 2012 Francis Von Legge "3D End of Time" "21/12" Francis Von Legge "Epic Broadway Medley Parody" 2017

Filmography Film

Television

Audio series

Web series

Music video appearances Year Song Director 2008 "When We Get Together" (The Ones) Karl Giant 2013 "Christmas on the Dance Floor" (Greg Scarnici) Greg Scarnici 2017 "C.L.A.T" Assaasd Yacoub 2017 "Faces" (Mila Jam) Frank Boccia 2017 "Expensive (Deluxe Version)" (Todrick Hall)Todrick Hall and Matthew Macar 2017 "Let It Snow" (Christmas Queens)Brad Hammer 2019"Scores" (Kahanna Montrese)Brad Hammer 2019"I Call Shade" (Trinity the Tuck)Tyler Stone 2020"Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrubs" (Todrick Hall)Todrick Hall 2020"Always" (Waze & Odyssey)Unknown

Theatre credits Year Title Role Notes 2018 Head Over Heels Pythio San Francisco, California, Curran Theatre 2018–2019 Broadway, Hudson Theatre