Miss Understood (born Alexander Heimberg) is an American drag queen originally from Levittown, New York, who has been based in New York City since the late 1980s. She was a prominent figure in the East Village drag scene of the early 1990s which revolved around the legendary Pyramid Club and Wigstock, an annual open air drag festival.
Miss Understood | |
|---|---|
 Miss Understood as Mistress of Ceremonies at Lucky Cheng's in 2007 | |
| Born | Alexander Heimberg |
Her film and television appearances include The Brenda and Glennda Show; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; HBO's Dragtime; TLC's Faking It; Wigstock, The Movie; Project Runway; and Sex and the City. In Josh Kilmer-Purcell's New York Times Bestselling Memoir I'm Not Myself These Days, one of the first competitions that Kilmer-Purcell's enters is one of Miss Understood's in New York City's "Lucky Chengs", a drag queen theme restaurant.
Screaming Queens Entertainment
editIn 1993, Miss Understood started a drag queen booking agency called Screaming Queens Entertainment, for which she acts as "CEO and Spokesmodel."[1] The company was developed to showcase some of the outrageous personalities Heimberg encountered in her early days. "When I first went clubbing, I was stunned by what I saw: a whole world of surreal looking characters that never left their homes before midnight. I had seen people dressed in drag before, but in New York, drag meant something totally different. It wasn't necessarily about passing as a woman, but about looking outrageous, feeling fabulous, and getting attention." Prominent events for which Screaming Queens provided entertainment include George Stephanopoulos's bachelor party,[2] Barbra Streisand's Farewell Concert VIP dinner, the Hugo Boss Christmas party; and New York Magazine's 30th anniversary, amongst others.[3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Lots More Drag Queens". New York Times. 1994-11-06. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
- ^ Ehmann, Abby (2005-05-10). "Interview with Miss Understood". Eros Zine. Darkside Productions, Inc. Archived from the original on 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
- ^ "Blue Moon Talent". Retrieved 2007-04-12.