India Ferrah

India Ferrah is the stage name of Shane Richardson, an American drag queen and costume designer best known for competing on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Richardson was raised in Roanoke, Virginia, and came out as gay and started performing in drag as India Ferrah during his teens. He later lived in Dayton, Ohio, and performs regularly in Las Vegas. India Ferrah competed on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

India Ferrah
India Ferrah at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2018
Born
Shane Richardson

Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
Television
Websiteferrahjamesdesigns.com

Early life

Richardson was raised in Roanoke, Virginia. He began wearing dresses and makeup at age 12, and sewing at age 14.[1] Richardson came out as gay at a young age, and was performing as India Ferrah by age 18.[2] His drag name came from his brother's boyfriend, who also served as his drag mother.[3]

Career

India Ferrah has worked as a drag entertainer and costume designer,[1] and was named Miss Gay Roanoke in 2006.[2] She won the Heart of Ohio All American Goddess Pageant in 2008.[4] She performed regularly at the Piranha Nightclub in Las Vegas, as of 2014,[5][6] and has co-hosted pageants.[7]

RuPaul's Drag Race franchise

India Ferrah competed on the third season (2011) of RuPaul's Drag Race.[8] She was the season's youngest contestant, at 23 years old.[1] India Ferrah was picked up without permission by fellow contestant Mimi Imfurst during their lip sync to Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" during the fourth episode;[9][10] the incident has been described as "infamous",[11][12] and prompted RuPaul to enforce a new rule: "drag is not a contact sport".[13]

India Ferrah in 2017

Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly called the exchange "one of the most entertaining few seconds" in the show's history to date.[14] In 2013, Philadelphia magazine's Alexander Kacala said the incident was "probably the worst lip-sync ever" in his list of the "5 All-Time Best RuPaul's Drag Race Lip-Sync Battles".[15] Timothy Allen of Queerty included the battle in his 2014 list of the series' "most shocking and controversial moments",[16] and The Guardian's Brian Moylan included the lip sync in his 2017 overview of the "10 best moments of TV's most fabulous reality show".[17] India Ferrah was eliminated by Stacy Layne Matthews in the fifth episode,[5] placing tenth.[18] She had a "public breakup" with drag and criticized the series immediately following her appearance, but recovered from the experience and worked to redeem her image.[19]

India Ferrah in 2019

India Ferrah has appeared at RuPaul's DragCon LA and RuPaul's DragCon UK,[20][21] and continues to tour and host pride festivities across the United States.[22][23] She is slated to appear in RuPaul's Drag Race Live! (2020), a variety show residency at Flamingo Las Vegas,[24] and competed on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2020).[25] She won the season's first challenge and lip-synced against season 11 winner Yvie Oddly.[26]

Kevin O'Keeffe of Mic.com ranked India Ferrah number 104 in his 2016 "definitive ranking" of all 113 RuPaul's Drag Race contestants.[27] Thrillist contributor Brian Moylan ranked her number 111 in his similar list for 2017, and said she had "one of the worst drag names of all time".[28] In 2018, Instinct's Ryan Shea ranked India Ferrah number 112 in his "definitive list" of all 126 contestants, writing, "Sweet queen, but only remembered for being lifted up by Mimi Imfurst."[29] In 2019, season 11 contestant Kahanna Montrese named India Ferrah as her "favorite underrated" alumna.[30]

Personal life

Richardson lived with his husband in Dayton, Ohio, during the early 2010s.[1][8] He lives in Las Vegas, as of 2014.[5][6] He has a brother who is also gay.[2]

Discography

As featured artist

Title Year Album
"I'm in Love"[31]
(with the Cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season 5)		 2020 Non-album single

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role
2011 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 3) Herself
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
2020 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 5)[18]
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked (season 5)[32]

See also

References
  1. Robinson, Amelia (January 22, 2011). "Dayton drag queen fights to follow RuPaul as 'America's Next Drag Superstar'". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  2. Hutkin, Erinn (March 30, 2007). "Queens for a night". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  3. O'Halloran, Kate (August 25, 2017). "RuPaul's Drag Race and the Reconceptualisation of Queer Communities and Publics". In Brennan, Niall; Gudelunas, David (eds.). RuPaul's Drag Race and the Shifting Visibility of Drag Culture: The Boundaries of Reality TV. Springer. pp. 213–214. ISBN 9783319506180. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  4. Allen, Timothy (August 4, 2014). "Heart of Ohio All American Goddess Pageant Call For Entries". Queerty. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  5. Gomez, Adrian (December 19, 2014). "Over-the-top hair, makeup and more: India Ferrah has loved drag since she was a kid". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  6. Gomez, Adrian (December 19, 2014). "India Ferrah shares her style in a show; and movie favorites fill the big screen at the KiMo". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  7. Allen, Timothy (August 18, 2014). "Ohio Crowns 2015 All American Goddess Preliminary Winners". Queerty. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  8. Bench, Emily (January 24, 2019). "It's official! Columbus' Nina West will compete in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' (Video)". Columbus Business First. American City Business Journals. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  9. Abad-Santos, Alex (March 2, 2015). "The pop culture phenomenon that is RuPaul's Drag Race, explained". Vox. Vox Media. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  10. Owens, Ernest (May 11, 2018). "Mimi Imfurst Admits to Initiating Unwelcome Online Sexual Chats With Two Drag Wars Contestants". Philadelphia. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  11. Stransky, Tanner (May 3, 2011). "'RuPaul's Drag Race: Reunited!': 'The Drag Race may be over, but the real drama is just getting started...'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  12. Yang, Bowen; Rogers, Matt (May 17, 2018). "RuPaul's Drag Race Recap: These Violent Delights Have Gaggy Ends". Vulture.com. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  13. Sim, Bernardo (May 19, 2018). "RuPaul's Drag Race: 15 Queens Eliminated For Crazy Reasons". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  14. Stransky, Tanner (February 8, 2011). "'RuPaul's Drag Race': It's all about the big girls this season". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  15. Kacala, Alexander (May 6, 2013). "5 All-Time Best RuPaul's Drag Race Lip-Sync Battles". Philadelphia. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  16. Allen, Timothy (April 30, 2014). "The Most Shocking and Controversial Moments of RuPaul's Drag Race". Queerty. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  17. Moylan, Brian (March 7, 2016). "RuPaul's Drag Race: 10 best moments of TV's most fabulous reality show". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  18. Boone, John (May 8, 2020). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Season 5 Cast RuVealed: Meet the Competing Queens". KMOV. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  19. Nolfi, Joey (June 11, 2020). "India Ferrah reveals post-Drag Race trauma over Mimi Imfurst pickup". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  20. Weinberg, Lindsay (March 10, 2020). "RuPaul's DragCon in L.A. Canceled Due to "Uncertainty" Over Coronavirus". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 3, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  21. "Everything You Need to Know About RuPaul's DragCon UK". Attitude. January 15, 2020. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  22. Sim, Bernardo (March 22, 2020). "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3 Queens: Where Are They Now?". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  23. Calello, Monique (July 9, 2018). "Reigning Miss Shenandoah Valley Pride is ready to hand over her crown". The News Leader. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  24. Nolfi, Joey (September 7, 2019). "RuPaul's Drag Race Live! Las Vegas residency show coming in 2020". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  25. Ramos, Dino-Ray (May 8, 2020). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Ru-veals Queens For Season 5, Will Continue To Sashay On VH1". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  26. Street, Mikelle (June 5, 2020). "Here's 'Drag Race: All Stars' 5's Lip Sync Assassin in Episode 1". Out. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  27. O'Keeffe, Kevin (August 23, 2016). "'RuPaul's Drag Race': A definitive ranking of all 113 contestants". Mic.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  28. Moylan, Brian (June 22, 2017). "Every Single 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Contestant, Ranked". Thrillist. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  29. Shea, Ryan (July 11, 2018). "The Definitive List: Ranking All the 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Queens from 1 to 126". Instinct. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  30. Piedra, Xavier (February 27, 2019). "'RuPaul's Drag Race': The New Queens Choose Their Favorite Underrated Alumni". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  31. "I'm In Love - Single". iTunes. 13 June 2020.
  32. Dino-Ray Ramos (June 8, 2020). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Brings Back 'Untucked' Aftershow For Season 5". Deadline. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
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