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Dwayne Cooper

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Dwayne Cooper
NationalityAmerican
Other names
  • Dwayne Milan
  • Milan
Alma materUniversity of South Carolina
Occupations
TelevisionRuPaul's Drag Race (season 4)

Dwayne Cooper, also known by the drag persona Milan and as Dwayne Milan,[1][2] is an American actor and entertainer who competed on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. On stage, Cooper has had roles in multiple national tours, and he performed in Broadway productions of Hairspray and Motown: The Musical. Raised in Florence, South Carolina, Cooper relocated to New York City.

Early life and education

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Dwayne Cooper was raised in Florence, South Carolina, and attended West Florence High School. Involved in many school activities, he was student government president in 1993, during his senior year. Cooper attended the University of South Carolina, initially planning to major in journalism but opting for theatre instead.[3]

Career

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Cooper is an actor and entertainer who competed in drag as Milan on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since appearing on the show, Cooper has only performed in drag for acting roles, such as when he played a drag queen in the film Spoiler Alert. On stage, Cooper has acted in national tours of Show Boat and Smoky Joe's Cafe,[4] and in a production of Suessical.[5] He was among the cast of Smoky Joe's Cafe which received the award for 'Outstanding Ensemble, off-Broadway' at the Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography in 2019.[6] On Broadway, Cooper performed as Thad in Hairspray, in the ensemble of Motown: The Musical,[3] and as a swing in the 2023 revival of Sweeney Todd.[7][8] He has been credited as the first Drag Race contestant to land a role on Broadway.[9]

Cooper is also part of the Doo Wop Project, a supergroup of Broadway actors who perform pop songs from the Great American Songbook.[10][11] According to Denise Leslie of the Pagosa Daily Post, Cooper has been described as a "modern day Sammy Davis Jr. meets Barry White".[12]

RuPaul's Drag Race

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On Drag Race, Milan placed ninth overall. On the fourth episode ("Queens Behind Bars"), she placed in the bottom two of an acting challenge and defeated Madame LaQueer in a lip-sync to the 2003 song "Trouble" by Pink.[13] For the Snatch Game challenge of the fifth episode, Milan impersonated Diana Ross.[5] Her performance landed her in the bottom two again, and she beat Kenya Michaels in a lip-sync to the 1990 song "Vogue" by American singer Madonna. Milan was eliminated on the sixth episode ("Float Your Boat"), when she was placed in the bottom two of the design challenge which required contestants to create and wear pride-themed floats. She lost a lip-sync against Jiggly Caliente to the 2011 song "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, during which Milan removed her dress, jewelry, and wig.[14]

During one of the runway shows, Milan wore a tuxedo outfit inspired by Janelle Monáe.[15] Ethan LaCroix and Jillian Anthony ranked her eighth in Time Out New York's 2015 list of New York City-based contestants and opined: "Milan was never really a contender ... but she sure was entertaining while she lasted. She defied the judges week after week with her barely there makeup and her lip-synch performances that involved dress rending and wig tossing, leaving her spent and nearly naked on the runway."[16] Patrick Crowley ranked her number 23 in Billboard's 2016 list of Snatch Game performances.[17]

In 2018, Michael Cuby included the disagreement between Milan and Willam on the third episode of the companion series RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked in American online LGBT magazine Them's list of the ten "messiest fights" on Drag Race.[18] In The Spinoff's 2019 "definitive ranking" of 162 Drag Race lip-syncs to date, Sam Brooks ranked Milan's battles against Jiggly Caliente, Kenya Michaels, and Madame LaQueer numbers 129, 73, and 69, respectively.[19] Chris Kelly included Milan's dragging split, described by Willam as "[swiffering] the floor with her taint", in Queerty's 2018 list of the show's ten best lip-sync "stunts, shocks and shenanigans".[20]

Personal life

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Cooper lived in New York City as of 2011.[21] He has credited Nashom Wooden of the electronic dance music group The Ones for helping him break into the drag scene. He once staged a show for the group.[22]

Filmography

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Television

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Musto, Michael (2012-03-07). "Dwayne Milan From RuPaul's Drag Race Speaks!". The Village Voice. ISSN 0042-6180. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  2. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race – Dwayne Milan". Hotspots! Magazine. 2012-03-08. Archived from the original on 2022-10-01. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  3. ^ a b Bridges, Traci (2012-01-25). "West Florence, USC grad in the hunt on "Rupaul's Drag Race"". The Morning News. Lee Enterprises. ISSN 1085-2131. OCLC 27969756. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  4. ^ "Doo Wop Project to get vocal at Easton's State Theatre". Pocono Record. Gannett. Archived from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  5. ^ a b Szelinski, Cailyn (2022-12-22). "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4: Where Are They Now?". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  6. ^ "Tony Nominee Robin de Jesús on His Gay Awakening, "Boys in the Band" Movie". Logo TV. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  7. ^ "Dwayne Cooper". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  8. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' winner Jinkx Monsoon to make their Broadway debut in 'Chicago'". Yahoo! News. 2022-11-22. Archived from the original on 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  9. ^ McPhee, Ryan (March 14, 2018). "Broadway-Bound Peppermint Will Join Fellow RuPaul's Drag Race Alum Alexis Michelle at Feinstein's/54 Below". Playbill. ISSN 0551-0678. Archived from the original on November 13, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  10. ^ "Doo Wop Project brings Broadway stars from 'Jersey Boys' and 'Motown: The Musical' to the Weinberg stage". Yahoo! Sports. 2023-02-01. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  11. ^ Miller, Deb (2020-10-07). "15 Questions in 15 Minutes with The Doo Wop Project's Dwayne Cooper". DC Theater Arts. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  12. ^ "'Doo Wop Project' Performs at Fort Lewis, Friday, March 31". Pagosa Daily Post. 2023-03-27. Archived from the original on 2023-04-12. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  13. ^ Sim, Bernardo (2019-10-20). "RuPaul's Drag Race: 5 Most Memorable Lip Sync Performances (& 5 That Fans Completely Forgot About)". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 2023-04-15. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  14. ^ Alonzo, Michelle Konopka (2022-06-18). "RuPaul's Drag Race: The Best (& Worst) Lip-Sync Reveals Ranked". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  15. ^ "Janelle Monae Overwhelmed, Honored to Be a Judge on 'Drag Race': "This Is History"". Decider. Archived from the original on 2023-03-31. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  16. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race NYC drag queens, ranked". Time Out New York. Time Out Group. 2015-04-20. ISSN 0049-3910. Archived from the original on 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  17. ^ Crowley, Patrick (2016-08-25). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Snatch Game: Ranking Pop Star Impersonations From Worst to Best". Billboard. Eldridge Industries. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on 2023-12-16. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  18. ^ "The 10 Messiest Fights in 'Drag Race: Untucked' History". Them. Condé Nast. 2018-06-28. Archived from the original on 2023-06-10. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  19. ^ Brooks, Sam (2019-10-03). "A definitive ranking of all 162 Lip Syncs on RuPaul's Drag Race". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  20. ^ Kelly, Chris (2018-04-19). "10 top 'Drag Race' Lip-sync-for-your-life stunts, shocks and shenanigans". Queerty. Archived from the original on 2023-02-08. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  21. ^ Keyes, Jeffrey James (2011-12-27). "A Drag Race Holiday: Milan". Queerty. Archived from the original on 2022-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  22. ^ "Absolutely Flawless: Remembering Drag Star Nashom Wooden". Logo TV. Archived from the original on 2024-04-19. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
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