RuPaul Andre Charles, known mononymously as RuPaul, is an American drag queen, actor, model, singer, television personality, and author. Since 2009, he has produced and hosted the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, for which he has received eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, the most-awarded person of color in the show's history. He is considered the most commercially successful drag queen in the United States. In 2017, he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2019, Fortune noted him as "easily the world's most famous" drag queen.
Born and raised in San Diego, California, RuPaul later studied performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia. He settled in New York City, where he became a popular fixture on the LGBT nightclub scene. He achieved international fame as a drag queen with the release of his debut single, "Supermodel", which was included on his debut studio album Supermodel of the World. In 1994, he became a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, raising money for the Mac AIDS Fund and becoming the first drag queen to land a major cosmetics campaign.