Charlie Hides | |||||||
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 Hides, circa 2017 | |||||||
| Born | (1964-07-12)12 July 1964 (age 60) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. | ||||||
| Citizenship | United Kingdom, United States, Ireland | ||||||
| Education | Massachusetts College of Art and Design | ||||||
| Occupations |
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| Known for | YouTube RuPaul's Drag Race | ||||||
| Spouse | |||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
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| Channel | |||||||
| Years active | 2011–present | ||||||
| Genre | Comedy | ||||||
| Subscribers | 100 thousand[1] | ||||||
| Total views | 23.88 million[1] | ||||||
| Associated acts | |||||||
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Last updated: 12 July 2020 | |||||||
| Website | charliehidestv | ||||||
Charlie Hides (born 12 July 1964)[2] is a British-Americandrag queen,impersonator, actor, and comedian. Hides is known for hisYouTube channel, and his participation in theninth season ofRuPaul's Drag Race. Following live performances inLondon clubs, Hides started a YouTube channel in March 2011. He has produced hundreds of videos satirizingpopular culture, and impersonating celebrities such asCher,Madonna,Lady Gaga, andLana Del Rey.[3][4][2]
Hides was born inBoston,Massachusetts[5] on 12 July 1964.[4] He attended theMassachusetts College of Art and Design.He currently lives in London and hasmultiple citizenship, being a citizen of theUnited States,United Kingdom, andIreland.[6][7]
Hides is gay, and in 2004 married his partner James Hides in the town ofProvincetown,Massachusetts.
Hides began as a successful drag act in Provincetown, Massachusetts in the 1990s. There he would incorporate live singing as well as comedic skits into his act. This success continued when he moved to London in the 2000s where he began performing on the London cabaret circuit in gay-venues, and legendary drag/cabaret venues, such as The Two Brewers and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. As his success grew, he became a sensation across the United Kingdom and would regularly tour the UK.
Hides started a YouTube channel afterhigh-definition video uploading became available on the website. Following the creation of his channel, he uploaded some of the videos that he used in live performances and comedy routines. Since Hides created theCharlie Hides TV YouTube channel in March 2011, he has uploaded over 200 videos. These include series such asMadonna/Lady Gaga Nightmares andShit ____ Says.[8]
In 2013, Hides uploaded a sketch that starred Australian singer and actressKylie Minogue. He impersonated Cher during a telephone call with Minogue. In 2015, Hides starred on the TV showBig Brother's Bit on the Side, where he impersonated celebrities whilst commenting onCelebrity Big Brother contestants. Hides also had a cameo role in the filmAbsolutely Fabulous: The Movie, as a drag performer. In 2014,The Charlie Hides Show aired onLondon Live as a pilot show, incorporating elements from his live performances and YouTube channel.[9][10][11][12]
Hides has occasionally drawn the attention of some of the acts that he impersonates. In a 2013 interview with theHerald Sun, Cher said that Hides was her "favourite Cher impersonator". When Lady Gaga was in London, she sent flowers to Hides, alongside a note. Hides has also stated thatLiza Minnelli,Elton John andKris Jenner have been "very kind".[13][14]
In 2019, Hides' began regularly performing and hosting 'Drag Queen Bingo' and saw instant success with every show selling out that he began taking it across the United Kingdom. 'Drag Queen Bingo' would become Hides' regular show, taking over from his evening cabaret shows, and in 2020 he set up the company dragqueen.bingo.
On 2 February 2017,Logo TV announced that Hides would participate as a contestant in theninth season of American reality competitionRuPaul's Drag Race. Aged 52 at the time of competing, Hides was the oldest contestant to participate in anyDrag Race franchise. This record would be broken in late 2023, when it was announced that 57-year-oldKitten Kaboodle would compete on thefourth season ofCanada's Drag Race. The season premiered on 24 March 2017, onVH1.[15] In an interview withBBC NewsNewsbeat, Hides said:
The label drag queen is not just a cookie cutter, one-size fits all type of label. There's pageant girls, there's comics, there's celebrity impersonators. There's every different type of queen under the sun. That's one of the things thatDrag Race has definitely shown over the course of nine seasons. That there's so many different ways to express yourself using this art form.You'd think it's just gay men, but it's got a huge following of women who are watching for the fashion. They're watching for the colourful sense of humour and then they're identifying with us. The contestants are human beings and not just seen as some dancing clowns or as freaks. We are definitely in need of laughter, sunshine, brightness and colour. Drag queens are defiant. We are the counter culture, the opposition party. We are everything that the moral majority and small-minded bigots fear.[16]
On the fourth episode of the show, entitled "Good Morning Bitches", Hides was eliminated from the competition. He was placed in the bottom two by the judges, and therefore had to participate in a "Lip-Sync for Your Life" toBritney Spears' "I Wanna Go" against fellow contestant Trinity Taylor. Hides commented on the lip-sync, saying that the self-described "disaster" was a result of having afractured rib, due to a cheerleading challenge several episodes prior. In the episode's challenge, Hides was critiqued for his performance in thetalk show segment of the episode. The morning after his elimination, Hides uploaded a music video for his new single, "The Dame".[17][18][19]
In December 2015, Hides was accused of usingblackface andethnic stereotypes to represent one of his characters, Laquisha Jonz. An activist,Chardine Taylor-Stone, launched a petition on the websiteChange.org, calling for theRoyal Vauxhall Tavern, and other venues, to cancel Hides' performances. Taylor-Stone claimed that the character was "a racist act based on misogynist stereotypes of black working-class women, it is outdated, offensive, shameful and has no place in theLGBT Community". As a result, Hides stated that he will no longer use the character in his performances.[20][21]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Charlie Hides Show | Self | Pilot show onLondon Live | [12] |
| 2015 | Big Brother's Bit on the Side | Various | Multiple impersonation sketches | [10] |
| 2017 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Self (contestant) | Season nine Contestant- 12th Place | [22] |
| RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked | Spin-off series onWOWPresents | [23] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Drag queen | Cameo role | [11] |
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| "The Edge of Glory" | 2011 |
| "MILF Gone Wild" | 2012 |
| "Boyfriend" | |
| "Turn Up the Radio" | |
| "Woman's World" | 2013 |
| "Roar"/"Wrecking Ball" | |
| "Applause" | |
| "Judas" | |
| "Venus" | |
| "Adore You" | 2014 |
| "Booty" | |
| "All About That Bass" | |
| "Welcome to New York" | |
| "Living for Love" | 2015 |
| "You Fucked a Bad Gay" | |
| "Don't Call Us" | 2017 |
| "The Dame" |
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Royal Television Society Awards | Best Low Budget Programme | Won | [24] |
| 2016 | Boyz Awards | Best Cabaret Act | Won | [25] |
