Morgan McMichaels

Morgan McMichaels (born May 28, 1981)[1] is the stage name of Scottish-American drag performer Thomas White,[2][3] best known as a contestant on the second season of the reality television competition RuPaul's Drag Race, as well as the third season of the show's All-Stars spinoff. She has also been involved in various Drag Race spin-offs, including RuPaul's Drag U and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

Morgan McMichaels
Morgan McMichaels at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2023
Born
Thomas White

(1981-05-28) May 28, 1981
Alexandria, Scotland, UK
EducationUniversity of the West of Scotland
OccupationDrag performer
Years active2001–present
Known for

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 3)

WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

White was born in 1981 in Alexandria, Scotland to a Scottish father and an American mother, and spent parts of his childhood in both Scotland and the United States.[1][4] White attended primary school in the US before returning to West Dunbartonshire as a teenager, attending Our Lady and St Patrick's High School then studying biochemistry and immunology at the University of the West of Scotland, before leaving at the age of 18 for California, where he decided to pursue a stage career instead of returning to Scotland.[5] Having been introduced to drag through the character Lily Savage, McMichaels stated his own alter ego wouldn't have emerged if he had stayed at university.[5] White's stage name pays homage to Morgan le Fay, a figure of Arthurian legend that links to his own Scottish heritage, with the surname McMichaels originating from his drag mother, Chad Michaels, who appeared on the 4th season of RuPaul's Drag Race and 1st season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, winning the latter, and his drag father, Adam Magee.[6][7]

Career

RuPaul's Drag Race

McMichaels joined the cast of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2010.[8] She was eliminated after losing a lip sync performance battle to contestant Sahara Davenport, placing eighth out of twelve.[9]

McMichaels later went on to participate in the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, where she was eliminated first by BenDeLaCreme for saying she would send home the best competitors if she stayed. This placed her 10th in the season. She returned in the 6th episode among five eliminated queens (Thorgy Thor, Milk, Chi Chi Devayne and Aja) and was selected to be brought back by BenDeLaCreme, ultimately placing 5th.[10][11]

After Drag Race
Morgan McMichaels in 2019

McMichaels, along with fellow contestants Raven, Jujubee, Pandora Boxx, Nina Flowers, Shannel and Tammie Brown appeared in RuPaul's Drag U, a spinoff Logo series in 2010, where she appeared as a "professor" for three episodes.[12] She remained in the cast on the second season of Drag U, which made its season premiere on 20 June 2011, and was a professor for two more episodes. She returned again for one episode in the third season of Drag U in 2012.

Morgan McMichaels at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2019

Other than Drag Race related shows, McMichaels was featured in the music video for "S&M" by Barbadian singer Rihanna in 2011.[13] On 11 April 2013, McMichaels made a guest appearance on Tabatha Takes Over at the VIP Nightclub in Riverside, California where McMichaels performed a lip sync as Tabatha. Morgan was also featured in Lady Gaga's lyric video of "Applause" along with other drag queens.[14] She hosted an internet show for WOWPresents called Living For The Lip Sync where she talks about lip sync fan-recorded performances by Drag Race alumni. It premiered to YouTube on September 4, 2014, and ended on January 22, 2015.[15] She made an appearance on Entertainment Tonight to talk about All Stars 3 in 2018.[16] She was featured with Laganja Estranja, Farrah Moan and Jaidynn Diore-Fierce on season 13 of Germany's Next Topmodel as a guest for the episode 14 challenge.[17] He appeared in a music video for Lizzo's song "Juice" on April 17, 2019.[18] She was a backup dancer for Nico Tortorella in an episode of Lip Sync Battle in 2019.[19]

In Episode 4 of All Stars 5, she made a guest appearance as a "Lip Sync Assassin", where she lip-synced against Miz Cracker.

She is a playable character in the official Drag Race mobile game, RuPaul's Drag Race Superstar.[20]

Music
Morgan McMichaels at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2022

McMichaels released her first single, "Why You Mad Tho?" on February 3, 2018, with the remix by producer Drew G Rdr.[21] McMichaels performed the single live on the Drag Race: All Stars 3 premiere episode talent show.[22] She released a second single, "Yazz Bitch" on May 11, 2018.[23]

Personal life

In October 2018, White broke her hand in self-defense after a physical altercation with a man who proclaimed to be a Nazi.[24][25]

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2010 RuPaul's Drag Race Contestant Season 2; 8th place
2010 RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked Contestant Season 1
2010-12 RuPaul's Drag U Mentor Season 1–3, 5 episodes
2013 Tabatha Takes Over Herself Tabatha impersonator
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Contestant Season 3; 5th place
2018 Germany's Next Top Model Guest 1 episode
2019 Lip Sync Battle Backup dancer
2020 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Guest Season 5, 1 episode
2022 RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race Herself Guest[26]
2023 Drag Me to Dinner Herself Hulu original[27]

Film
Year Title Role
2019 Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts Herself
2021 The Bitch Who Stole Christmas[28] Lanette

Music videos
Year Title Artist
2011 "S&M" Rihanna
2013 "Applause" Lady Gaga
2019 "Juice" Lizzo
"All The Queen's Horses" Shakespears Sister
2020 "Nerves of Steel"[29] Erasure

Web series
Year Title Role Note Ref.
2013 Transformations Herself Guest [30]
2014-15 Living For The Lip Sync Host [31]
2014 Bestie$ For Ca$h Guest [32]
2015 Hey Qween [33]
2015 Drag Queens React [34]
2018 The Pit Stop [35]
Whatcha Packin [36]
2017-2019 Fashion Photo Ruview Guest Co-host [37]
2019 Try Guys Episode: "The Try Guys Lip Sync Battle Drag Queens" [38]
2019 Follow Me Episode: "Mariah Balenciaga" [39]
2022 Binge Queens Recurring [40]

Discography

Singles
Year Title
2018 Why You Mad Tho?
Yazz Bitch
2020 Ass Like Mine[41]
2023 URDUM URDUM
Title Year Album
"Sitting on a Secret"
(RuPaul featuring Aja, Chi Chi DeVayne, Milk, Morgan McMichaels, & Thorgy Thor)		 2018 Non-album single

References
  1. McMichaels, Morgan (22 July 2015). Bonus: Morgan McMichaels is The Scottish Scandal. Hey Qween! (YouTube). Lebanon. Event occurs at 00:40 ... 1:22. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Born in Scotland in '81, moved to American in '87, back to Scotland in '94, and back here in '99. ... My mom's American, my dad's a Scot.
  2. "About Morgan". Morgan McMichaels official website. Archived from the original on 24 October 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  3. Ragan, Scott (5 May 2016). "For Morgan McMichaels, Life Is a Drag". Advocate. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  4. "Morgan McMichaels Has Palm Springs Roots to Her Ascent to RuPaul's". Palm Springs Life. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  5. "'Queen of Scotland' declares support for independence and slams Boris Johnson". The National. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  6. "Thomas White". IMDb. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  7. "9 "Drag Race" Drag Mothers And Daughters". Logo. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. "Morgan McMichaels — RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2 Contestant". Logo. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  9. Stransky, Tanner (9 March 2010). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' recap: It's either Team Tyra or Team Tatianna". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  10. Oliver, Isaac (2 March 2018). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars': A Shocking Elimination". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  11. Koch, Drew. "Here's How The Returning 'Drag Race' Queen Can Change EVERYTHING". Bustle. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  12. Fitzgerald, Christine (29 August 2010). "RuPaul's Drag U Faculty Spotlight – Morgan McMichaels". Socialitelife.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  13. "20 Music Videos With Drag Queen Cameos". Billboard. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  14. "Lady Gaga's 'Applause' Lyric Video: Here Are The Important, Drag-Related Findings". MTV News. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  15. WOWPresents (4 September 2014), Morgan McMichaels is Living for the Lipsync - Miley Cyrus & Madonna, archived from the original on 15 December 2021, retrieved 4 March 2018
  16. "'RuPaul's Drag Race': Morgan McMichaels Spills 'All Stars 3' Secrets! (Exclusive)". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  17. Kensbock, Verena (11 May 2018). "Germany's Next Topmodel 2018: Die Topmodels müssen ihren Mann stehen". rp-online.de (in German). Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  18. "Lizzo - JUICE Music Video feat. RuPaul's Drag Race Queens". YouTube. 17 April 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  19. "WATCH: 'Younger' Star Nico Tortorella Stunned as Ariana Grande on 'Lip Sync Battle' • Instinct Magazine". Instinct Magazine. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  20. @morganmcmichaels (22 June 2023). "Celebrate Pride Month with ME and The Drag Race Game The Official Mobile Game!" – via Instagram.
  21. Why You Mad Tho? (Drew G Rdr Remix), 30 January 2018, retrieved 28 February 2018
  22. "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars s03e01 review". The Independent. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  23. Yazz Bitch by Morgan McMichaels, 11 May 2018, retrieved 13 May 2018
  24. "Drag Race queen punched Nazi after he said 'I want to cut your f*g throat'". Gay Star News. 12 October 2018. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  25. "Drag queen breaks hand punching Nazi in the face". PinkNews. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  26. Nolfi, Joey (18 July 2022). "RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race teases Masked Singer format for season 2 premiere". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  27. Rice, Lynette (1 May 2023). "'Drag Me To Dinner': Hulu Announces Premiere Date For Unscripted Series From Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  28. Joey Nolfi (29 October 2021). "RuPaul's new Christmas movie unites the largest Drag Race cast in history". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  29. Erasure (11 August 2020). "Erasure - Nerves of Steel (Official Video)" (YouTube video). Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  30. James St. James and Morgan McMichaels: Transformations - Halloween Edition. WOWPresents. 22 October 2013. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  31. Morgan McMichaels' Living for the Lipsync - Sia and Whitney Houston. WOWPresents. 23 October 2013. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  32. Chad Michaels and Morgan McMichaels – Bestie$ For Ca$h. WOWPresents. 3 October 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  33. Morgan McMichaels on Hey Qween with Jonny McGovern | Hey Qween. Hey Qween. 20 July 2015. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  34. Part 2 | Drag Queens Reading Mean Comments w/ Alaska, Raja, Raven, Milk, Morgan, and More!. WOWPresents. 24 June 2015. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  35. The Pit Stop Season 4 Episode 1: Morgan McMichaels Spills the Tea | RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4. WOWPresents. 15 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  36. Whatcha Packin: Morgan McMichaels | Season 3 Episode 1 | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 3. VH1. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  37. RuPaul's Drag Race Fashion Photo RuView with Raven & Morgan McMichaels - Halloween BOOview. WOW Presents. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  38. The Try Guys Lip Sync Battle Drag Queens. The Try Guys. 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  39. FOLLOW ME: Mariah Balenciaga. YouTube. 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  40. SPOILER ALERT: Binge Queens - RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World Season 1, Episode 1. YouTube. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  41. Fitzgerald, Christina (1 March 2020). "The Week In Drag – RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12 Is Here! Plus Queerty Winners, Trixie Mattel And Scarlet Envy In The Hot Seat And Sasha Velour Shows Off Their Artistic Side". Socialitelife.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
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