Octavia St. Laurent
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Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi (March 16, 1964 – May 17, 2009) was an American model and AIDS educator who was active in New York City's Black and Latino ballroom community and Harlem's luxurious balls.[1][2] She came to public attention after being featured in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.[3]
Career
St. Laurent began walking in the New York City ballroom scene in 1982, with "Swept Away" by Diana Ross as her favorite accompanying music.[2] She rose to prominence with the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning[4] and had a small role in 1993's The Saint of Fort Washington.[5] She was the central character in the short documentary Queen of the Underground (1993, directed by Adam Soch), in which she criticized "big-time celebrities that go around in their cars picking up transvestites, having sex with them, and then getting on TV and making fun of them"--making an explicit reference to Eddie Murphy.[4]
In 2006, she starred in Wolfgang Busch's How Do I Look,[6] dubbed as "the sequel to Paris is Burning", and was using the name Heavenly Angel Octavia St Laurent Manolo Blahnik.[2]
Personal life
St. Laurent was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 16, 1964. Early in her life, St. Laurent identified as a trans woman, but later identified as intersex and said she had been that since birth.[7] St. Laurent said that growing up, her parents were accepting:[7] "I had wonderful parents that supported me. My sexuality was not an issue with my parents. They were accustomed to that since I was a child. People thought I looked like a little girl, and my mother said: 'This is a boy!'"[2] She said she experienced police harassment and was arrested on several occasions for wearing gender-nonconforming clothing in public.[2]
St. Laurent was diagnosed as HIV positive, and later helped spread awareness about the disease. During her appearance in Wolfgang Busch's LGBT documentary How Do I Look, St. Laurent further discussed her drug use, sex work, and fight with AIDS.[8] In 2000 she delivered a eulogy after the murder of Amanda Milan, at Metropolitan Community Church.[9]
In 2008, St. Laurent was diagnosed with cancer. She moved in with her sister while receiving treatment and started a one-person show at Spirits gay bar in Syracuse, New York, which she described as a quiet place for respite. St. Laurent gave a final interview by phone in March 2009[2] and died after a long battle with cancer on May 17, 2009, in Syracuse, New York, aged 45. St. Laurent is buried in a cemetery in Queens, New York.[7]
Acknowledgements
St. Laurent's appearance in Paris Is Burning was cited in Judith Butler's book Bodies That Matter in "Gender is Burning".[10]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Paris Is Burning | Herself | Documentary |
| 1993 | The Saint of Fort Washington | Sex worker in car | |
| Octavia Saint Laurent: Queen of the Underground | Herself | Documentary | |
| 2005 | Pill Awards | Hostess | TV Award show |
| 2006 | How Do I Look | Herself | Documentary |
References
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- ↑ Cotter, Holland (October 24, 2003). DL: The Down Low in Contemporary Art, New York Times
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External links
- Template:Trim/ Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Octavia St. Laurent " Queen Of The Underground " WINNER 2010 PILL AWARD
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- Pages with script errors
- 1964 births
- 2009 deaths
- Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
- American LGBTQ models
- American intersex people
- American transgender entertainers
- American non-binary entertainers
- African-American LGBTQ people
- Ball culture people
- Actresses from Brooklyn
- 20th-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American people
- Intersex non-binary people
- Transgender non-binary people
- Transgender models
- Intersex entertainers
- Intersex models
- Non-binary models
- 20th-century American LGBTQ people