Willam Belli

Willam Belli (, born June 30, 1982), mononymously known as Willam, is an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, reality television personality, author, and YouTuber.

Throughout the 2000s he would go on to play small roles in many television shows.

He also had a small role in the film American Wedding.

Belli's first acting credit was as the role of a street hustler named Bart Jaker on two episodes of The District (2002) and his first TV appearance was on an episode of the game show Street Smarts.

He later appeared in the TV series Boston Public, Cold Case, The Shield, My Name Is Earl and most notably Nip/Tuck as the transgender character Cherry Peck.

They were married on September 9, 2008.

In 2008, Belli was featured on the single artwork for the song "Breakin' Up" by Rilo Kiley.

He has also modeled as part of the Tranimal Master Class Workshop at the Machine Project, which was photographed by Austin Young.

Belli is a member of the band Tranzkuntinental, which made its debut at The Roxy in 2009.

The band was started by Charlie Paulson and Xander Smith and features drag queens Detox, Kelly Mantle, Rhea Litré, and Vicky Vox.

Fellow castmate Chad Michaels had competed with Belli in the California Entertainer of the Year Pageant in 2010.

Belli won the main challenges in the episodes "Float Your Boat" and "Frenemies", but was disqualified in the latter.

In the episode "Reunited", Belli stated that her disqualification was due to conjugal visits made by his husband in his hotel room.

By Belli's own account however, in the years since airing season 4, Willam has refuted the "official story" in multiple interviews.

In January 2011, he was featured in Rihanna's music video "S&M" along with Detox and Morgan McMichaels as back-up dancers.

World of Wonder contacted Willam's management asking for her to audition for the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

She decided to apply after being rejected for an acting role in Don Johnson's pilot, A Mann's World, when the casting director of the pilot (which later went unaired), who had previously cast Willam in Cinema Verite, didn't cast her because she was not a "name".

The role later went to Cara Cunningham.

In November 2011, Logo TV announced that Belli was among 13 contestants competing on the fourth season.

Willam came to prominence as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012, but was disqualified in the "Frenemies" challenge.

Before appearing on Drag Race, Willam worked as an actor, most notably playing the recurring role of transgender woman Cherry Peck in Ryan Murphy's medical drama Nip/Tuck.

She has continued to perform in a variety of films, television series and web series, often in drag.

Since 2012, Willam has recorded three albums of comedy music, mostly consisting of parodies of popular songs.

Her second album, Shartistry in Motion, debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart.

Between 2012 and 2014, she recorded several songs as part of the group DWV (alongside drag queens Vicky Vox and Detox), including the parodies "Chow Down" and "Boy Is a Bottom", whose music videos were viral successes.

Following the breakup of DWV, Willam formed another drag supergroup, the AAA Girls, with Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck.

Willam Belli was born to Debbi Ruzic Belli in Philadelphia.

He is the younger of two children.

He has a sister, Samantha.

Belli states he is of Yugoslav and Italian heritage.

He lived in Florida for middle school and high school.

Belli's father worked at the Kennedy Space Center.

His aunt is television director Mary Lou Belli.

Growing up, Willam frequently illustrated dresses, to which many people assumed that he wanted to become a fashion designer, but he asserted that he designed the garments with the intent to wear them himself.

He later worked in costume design in theatre, and, at the age of 13, he was put in drag for the first time at a closing night party.

From there, he would dress in drag to watch performances of The Rocky Horror Show, and was paid for a drag performance for the first time at the age of 16.

Belli was overweight when he was young but lost the extra pounds by becoming vegetarian before being emancipated at 16.

Belli met his husband, Bruce, at nineteen.

In 2018, she appeared in the critically acclaimed film A Star Is Born.

For her performance on the dark comedy web series EastSiders, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series.