D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce
D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce is an actor, born 1981.
Shangela Laquifa Wadley is the stage name; D.J. Pierce, out of Paris, Texas, is the person doing the work. Drag Race is where most people met her, and it took three goes. She was the first contestant eliminated in season two, returned as a surprise entrant the following season and placed sixth, then came back for the third All Stars run and finished in joint third or fourth place. However you feel about the show, that record on RuPaul's Drag Race belongs to someone who simply would not accept the exit.
The persistence turned into a screen career broader than most of her cohort managed. She is one of the hosts of We're Here, and she plays the emcee at the drag bar in A Star Is Born, which is a small part with a lot of weight on it: she is the one who has to make a room feel like somewhere a star could plausibly be discovered.
The rest of the list shows a working actor rather than a personality doing cameos. She plays Stephen in Hurricane Bianca and again in Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate, Deveraux in Katy Keene, and a queen in Little Demon using only her voice. Earlier credits are the kind of one-scene television parts everyone starts with, in Terriers and Detroit 1-8-7, plus an uncredited appearance in Lavalantula. Magic Hour is next.
Movies (5)
TV (7)
Where to start with D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce
Begin with the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where the surprise return happens and the persona sharpens from loud to genuinely funny. Watching it after season two, where she goes out first, is the entire argument for her career, compressed into two seasons of a reality show.
We're Here is the better show, though, and the one to stay with. Hosting duties strip away most of the competition-format armour and ask her to be patient with strangers in small towns, which is what she is best at.
For acting rather than performing, A Star Is Born is three minutes of screen time used properly, Hurricane Bianca is broader and more forgiving, and Little Demon shows what she can do when the audience cannot see her at all. Katy Keene is the most conventional network work here, and the least interesting.