Darienne Lake
Lake atRuPaul's DragCon LA in 2022
Born	Greg Meyer (1971-11-27)November 27, 1971 (age 53) Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Drag queen, television personality
Years active	1990–present

Greg Meyer (born November 27, 1971), better known by the stage nameDarienne Lake, is adrag queen and television personality. Lake began performing in drag in 1990 inRochester, New York before rising to prominence after competing onthe sixth season ofRuPaul's Drag Race, placing fourth. After appearing on the reality television show, Darienne Lake toured internationally, released a comedy album, and performed in film, television, and numerous web series.

Lake was born onLong Island,New York and moved toRochester at age eleven.^[1] As a middle child of five, she felt ignored growing up.^[2] At age eighteen, her mother kicked her out of her home due to hersexual orientation; her mother has since apologized.^[3]

Lake’s drag career began inRochester, New York following her first year of college in 1990.^[1] She was inspired by a drag queen’s performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a local production ofThe Rocky Horror Picture Show.^[4] When her friends put her up in drag, they said she resembledRicki Lake inHairspray (1988); the stage name Darienne Lake is an homage to her as well as to theSix Flags Darien Lake amusement park.^[4] Lake later appeared on a 1997 episode ofThe Ricki Lake Show aboutplus-sized drag queens.^[5][6] Lake'sdrag mother, Naomi Kane, was also the drag mother ofMrs. Kasha Davis.^[7]

Since the 1990s, Lake has been active in the New York drag community and has performed across the United States and internationally.^[4][8] Lake held the title of Miss Gay Rochester in 1998–1999.^[9][10]

In 2003, she appeared in aVH1 documentary about drag titledBoys Will Be Girls, alongside her drag daughterPandora Boxx, who went on to become a contestant on thesecond season ofRuPaul’s Drag Race as well as thefirst season ofRuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.^[4][8]

Lake rose to international prominence after winning the fan vote to appear on thesixth season ofDrag Race. During the series, Lake won a main challenge (episode three) and ultimately finished the competition in fourth place behindAdore Delano,Courtney Act, and eventual winnerBianca Del Rio.^[4]

In 2018, Lake appeared inHurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate.^[11]

Lake has been praised for herlip syncing skills, having survived threelip syncs for your life onDrag Race.^[12][13]IndieWire wrote that Lake "lip syncs like the rent is due".^[12]Vulture ranked Lake as one of the top 100 most powerful drag queens in America in 2019.^[14]

Darienne Lake competed on theeighth season ofRuPaul's Drag Race AllStars (2023).^[15] She ultimately finished the competition in ninth place.

In 2020, Lake underwent surgery formelanoma.^[16]

• RuPaul’s DragCon 2016: Meet Darienne Lake (2016),The WOW Report,World of Wonder
• Media related toDarienne Lake at Wikimedia Commons

• Living people
• 1971 births
• People from Long Island
• People from Rochester, New York
• American drag queens
• 21st-century American actors
• RuPaul's Drag Race contestants
• Drag performers from New York (state)

• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link is on Wikidata