Willam Belli

Willam Belli (, born June 30, 1982), mononymously known as Willam, is an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, comedian, reality television personality, author, and YouTuber. Willam came to prominence as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012. She was the first contestant to be disqualified from the competition.

Before appearing on Drag Race, Willam worked as an actor, most notably playing the recurring role of transgender woman Cherry Peck in Ryan Murphy's medical drama Nip/Tuck. She has continued to perform in a variety of films, television series and web series, often in drag. In 2018, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born. For her performance on the dark comedy web series EastSiders, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.

Since 2012, Willam has recorded three albums of comedy music, mostly consisting of parodies of popular songs. Her second album, Shartistry in Motion, debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. Between 2012 and 2014, she recorded several songs as part of the group DWV (alongside drag queens Vicky Vox and Detox), including the parodies "Chow Down" and "Boy Is a Bottom", whose music videos were viral successes. Following the breakup of DWV, Willam formed another drag supergroup, the AAA Girls, with Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck.

Early life Willam Belli was born in Philadelphia to Debbi Ruzic Belli. Belli is from a Catholic background. His mother discovered he was gay when she caught him in an incestuous relationship with his male cousin when he was young. He is of Italian and Yugoslav heritage. He has an older sister, Samantha. He lived in Florida for middle school and high school. Belli's father worked at the Kennedy Space Center. His aunt is television director Mary Lou Belli.

Growing up, Belli frequently illustrated dresses, to which many people assumed that he wanted to become a fashion designer, but he asserted that he designed the garments with the intent to wear them himself. He later worked in costume design in theatre, and, at the age of 13, he was put in drag for the first time in Jesus Christ Superstar at a community theater. From there, he would dress in drag to watch performances of The Rocky Horror Show, and was paid for a drag performance for the first time at the age of 16.

Belli was overweight when he was young but lost the extra pounds by becoming vegetarian. At the age of 16, he was legally emancipated from his parents. Belli met his husband, Bruce, at 19. They were married on September 9, 2008. They separated in 2015.

Career

2000–2008: Beginnings Belli's first acting credit was as the role of a street hustler named Bart Jaker on two episodes of The District (2002) and his first TV appearance was on an episode of the game show Street Smarts. He later appeared in the TV series Boston Public, Cold Case, The Shield, My Name Is Earl and most notably Nip/Tuck as the transgender character Cherry Peck. Throughout the 2000s he would go on to play small roles in many television shows. He also had a small role in the film American Wedding.

In 2008, Belli was featured on the single artwork for the song "Breakin' Up" by Rilo Kiley. He has also modeled as part of the Tranimal Master Class Workshop at the Machine Project, which was photographed by Austin Young.

2009–2010: Drag career

Belli is a member of the band Tranzkuntinental, which made its debut at The Roxy in 2009. The band was started by Charlie Paulson and Xander Smith and features drag queens Detox, Kelly Mantle, Rhea Litré, and Vicky Vox.

In January 2011, he was featured in Rihanna's music video "S&M" along with Detox and Morgan McMichaels as back-up dancers.

2011–2012: RuPaul's Drag Race and further success World of Wonder contacted Willam's management asking for her to audition for the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Fellow castmate Chad Michaels had competed with Belli in the California Entertainer of the Year Pageant in 2010. Belli won the main challenges in the episodes "Float Your Boat" and "Frenemies", but was disqualified in the latter. In the episode "Reunited", Belli stated that her disqualification was due to conjugal visits made by his husband in his hotel room. In the years since airing season 4, however, Belli has refuted the "official story" in multiple interviews.

Belli's most recent reassertion about the circumstances of her disqualification is in an interview with YouTuber Joseph Shepherd in February 2019, where Belli claims that the so-called "official" reason was just a fabrication by the show's creators for the purpose of portraying a more palatable scenario of Belli's departure from the show. In that interview, Belli claimed that the genuine reason for his removal was due to increasing hostilities and issues between the contestants and the crew, and that, whenever she had broken the rules, she would report it directly to production in hopes of being removed from the show. Belli claims that many members of the crew were rude and condescending towards the drag queens in general, with some of the crew members not even bothering to try to learn the contestant's names—sharing one example of a crew member repeatedly calling season 4 fellow contestant Latrice Royale "La-something", despite all the crew having cards with the photographs of the queens/contestants (in and out of drag) worn around their necks. At one point, Belli verbally barked at a production member for not knowing Latrice's name "just because [Belli] felt like it". Belli, along with cast members such as Royale and Chad Michaels, attempted to make a stand against the production members. Belli used the publicity of his disqualification to release his single "Chow Down", which was a parody of Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" that addressed the 2012 Chick-fil-A same-sex marriage controversy. The song featured Detox and Vicky Vox.

On March 12, 2012, she released her first single "Trouble", which was produced by RuPaul's Red Hot collaborator Tom Trujillo. The music video for the song was directed by porn director Chi Chi LaRue and premiered on Logo TV. On March 21, Belli released "The Vagina Song", a parody of "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars as his third single, which had been previously uploaded to YouTube in 2010. The music video was directed by Michael Serrato, who also directed Belli's music video for "Chow Down".

In November 2012, Belli was featured with country music artist Drake Jensen on a cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man". That same month, Belli self-released her debut album The Wreckoning via his website.

Belli has claimed that she was originally cast on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2012, but was dropped from the cast two days before filming was scheduled to begin. The reason given to Belli by production was that they did not see her "having stakes or stories with any of the girls". Belli believes that she was dropped from the cast because of her appearance on RuPaul's Drag U a few months prior, which she had only appeared on because another queen, later claimed to be Phi Phi O'Hara, had allegedly failed her background check, and, as Belli believes that she would have had the "most stakes" with Phi Phi (who no longer could appear on the show), resulted in Belli being dropped from the cast. She has also stated that she believes her replacement in the cast was Mimi Imfurst. Phi Phi later appeared on the next season of All Stars. Its timing and the use of social media made it a very well received release. The song is a parody of "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys and also features an altered version of the "breakdown" from "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" by En Vogue. "Boy Is a Bottom" debuted at number six on Billboards Comedy Digital Songs, selling 3,000 downloads in its first week.

On August 14, 2013, Belli was featured along with Shangela, Detox, Raven, Morgan McMichaels, Landon Cider, Shannel, and Courtney Act, in Lady Gaga's lyric video for her single "Applause".

Belli's trio, including Detox and Vicky Vox, called DWV, officially split in June 2014 due to a personal conflict between the members.

2014–2017: American Apparel, Shartistry in Motion, first book, perfume, and talk show Belli then became an American Apparel Ad Girl alongside Drag Race alumni Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, which they supported with a single titled "American Apparel Ad Girls". They also released a second single together, "Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man" for the Christmas season.

The AAA Girls performing in Denver, Colorado, 2017. Willam can be seen on the left, with Alaska in the middle and Courtney Act on the right.

On January 13, 2017, he released a solo version of the DWV hit "Boy Is a Bottom" in Spanish, titled "Es Una Pasiva", which went on to top the comedy iTunes chart. Belli self-released his second studio album, Shartistry in Motion, on June 2.

Belli released his first book Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way in October 2016 through Grand Central Publishing. In 2017, he released his first perfume collaboration with Xyrena, Scented by Willam.

On May 18, 2017, it was revealed that Fullscreen had ordered a talk show to be hosted by Belli. Suck Less, billed as a weekly half-hour call-in show "where Willam throws shade and shows how to slay the game of life in six-inch stilettos" is set to debut in the summer. Friends from Belli's everyday life, as well as some of his favorite drag queens are expected to put in guest appearances over the course of the 13-episode series.

2018–present: A Star Is Born, West End debut and other ventures In 2018, Willam appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born. Willam and fellow drag queen Shangela play queens working in a drag bar alongside Lady Gaga's character Ally when she's discovered by famous country singer Jackson Maine, played by Bradley Cooper. Willam's character, Emerald, is a Dolly Parton impersonator who flirts with Jackson. The dialogue in his scenes was mostly improvised, including a memorable moment in which his character has Jackson autograph her silicone breastplate. Bradley Cooper, who also directed the film, said that Willam and Shangela "blew his mind" with their ad-libbing.

On July 18, 2018, the first episode of Belli's Drag Race-themed podcast co-hosted with Alaska Thunderfuck and titled Race Chaser, was published on the Forever Dog Network. In 2020 Alaska and Belli announced that they would be setting up their own podcast network in collaboration with Forever Dog, Moguls of Media (MOM), featuring a "star-studded roster of iconic drag queens and queer luminaries" to bridge "the past, present, and future of LGBTQ+ entertainment". Podcasts established under the Moguls of Media brand and executive produced by Belli and Alaska include The Chop, hosted by Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon; Very That, hosted by Delta Work and Raja; Hi Jinkx!, hosted by Jinkx Monsoon; Famous This Week, hosted by Priyanka and formerly Brooke Lynn Hytes; Sloppy Seconds, hosted by Big Dipper and Meatball; Wanna Be On Top?, hosted by Shea Couleé; and Hall & Closet, hosted by Jaida Essence Hall and Heidi N Closet. In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her ninth on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.

In 2021, Belli was announced as the star of Iconic Justice, a courtroom show in which Belli will hear and rule on various legal and social disputes between LGBTQ people.

In May 2021 Belli made their West End debut in the play Death Drop, an all-drag spoof on an Agatha Christie murder mystery, billed as "Dragatha Christie". They reprised the performance on a tour across the UK before returning to the West End in late 2022 to headline a sequel Death Drop: Back in the Habit again followed by a UK tour. They reprised their performance in the original play when it premiered Off-Broadway in Summer 2023.

Filmography Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 2002 The District Darrin Jacobs 2 episodes 2003 Boston Public Mike Episode: "Chapter Fifty-Eight" 2004 The Shield Colt Episode: "Posse Up" 2004–06 Nip/Tuck Cherry Peck 5 episodes 2005 My Name Is Earl D.J. Pilot 2006 Saved Tippi Episode: "Living Dead"2007 Women's Murder Club Sasha Simone Episode: "To Drag & To Hold" CSI: NY Candy Darling Episode: "The Lying Game" American Body Shop Wanda Episode: "Stretchy Face"2009 Criminal Minds Walter Patterson Episode: "To Hell... and Back" Southland Shiela Episode: "See the Woman" 2011 Cinema Verite Candy Darling Television film2012 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 4) Himself Contestant (7th place) RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked Himself 10 episodes RuPaul's Drag U Professor Episode: "Ex-Beauty Queens" CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dahlia Episode: "Code Blue Plate Special"2013 The New Normal Nana Drag Queen Episode: "The Goldie Rush" She's Living for This Herself Season 2, Episode 1 2015 International Desk Nassime Episode: "Alps Plane Crash"Reenactment 2016, 2018 Hit the Floor Herself Season 3, Episode 6: "Carrying"Season 4, Episode 4: "Number's Up" 2016–2018 @midnight with Chris Hardwick Herself Season 4, Episode 272017 When We Rise Jason Snyder Season 1, Episode 4 and 5 The Twins: Happily Ever After? Herself/Landlord Episodes: "Happily NEVER After?" and "Hoff and Running..." Dragula Guest Judge Season 2, Episode 1 Difficult People Kashton Episode: "The Silkwood"2018 Work Mom Bob Television film Super Drags Lady Elza Voice role The Kominsky Method Cherry Episode: "Chapter 8. A Widow Approaches" 2021 Iconic Justice Judge Willam 5 episodes 2023 Drag Me to Dinner Herself Hulu original Celebrity Family Feud Herself Guest AccusedLayla Guest2025For the Love of Dilfs Herself Guest Judge, season 3 episode 52025 MTV Video Music AwardsHerselfPerformer with Sabrina Carpenter, Laganja Estranja, Symone, Denali, and Lexi Love

Stage

Web

Music videos Year Title Artist(s) 2011"S&M"Rihanna 2013"Applause" Lyric videoLady Gaga 2016"Expensive"Todrick Hall 2017 "Power" Little Mix 2018"Girly"John Duff 2019"Star Maps"Aly & AJ 2023 "True Colors" Kylie Sonique Love

Discography

Albums Title Details Chart peaks USComedy The Wreckoning Released: November 17, 2012 Label: Self-released Format: CD, digital download — Shartistry in Motion Released: June 2, 2015 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download 1 Now That's What I Call Drag Music, Vol. 1 Released: October 26, 2018 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download 4 "—" denotes a recording that failed to chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles Title Year Peak chart positions Album USComedyDigital "Trouble"2012 — The Wreckoning "Chow Down" 12 "The Vagina Song" — "Love You Like a Big Schlong" 25 "She Doesn't Know" — "Let's Have a KaiKai" — "Stand by Your Man" — "RuPaulogize" 2013 14 "Potential New Boyfriend" — "Boy Is a Bottom" 6 "Silicone" — "Blurred Bynes" 5 "That Christmas Song" — "Gaycation!" 2014 — "Hole Pic" — "Only Anally" — Shartistry in Motion "American Apparel Ad Girls" 10 "Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man" — "Es Una Pasiva" 2015 — Shartistry in Motion "Ride for AIDS" 12 "Thick Thighs" 3 "I'm Not a Pearl" — "Uck Foff" 2016 12 "AAA" 2017 2 Access All Areas "—" denotes a recording that failed to chart or was not released in that territory.

Tours Access All Areas Tour