Yahoo Lifestyle “Drag Race” season 17 star Onya Nurve wants her 'Black and glamorous' excellence to inspire others 'to not give up'
Onya tells EW she wants people of color to "find those avenues and network with those people, because your time will come" as she takes center stage on season 17.
The moment RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 star Onya Nurve opens her mouth, the entire room listens. The people in her vicinity, the lights overhead, the bones of the building itself — all rapt with keen attention when her booming voice echoes through the air, commanding attention as wide as the space stretches or as intimately pointed as whatever wise words slip off her thespian tongue.
Her skills as an orator on the stage are obvious; she projects with the vocal prowess of divas who’ve been in the game longer than she’s been alive. And it all started not because of her voice, but a mere glance she gave in a role that was created specifically for her in a local production of a beloved tale.
“I’ve been doing theater for about 14 years, half of my life,” the Cleveland queen tells Entertainment Weekly. “My first play was To Kill a Mockingbird. The director added me as an extra role. I played Tom Robinson’s son, and I had very dramatic lookbacks. I had no lines, but I did what I needed to do."
When asked to demonstrate, Onya nearly knocks EW’s camera crew out by turning around and flashing a powerful glance over her shoulder. “I’m coming for you, Viola,” she jokes of the Oscar winner. But maybe, just maybe, it’s not a joke. She knows she’s good, and she’s bringing something different — the kind of energy that will make her a star — on the Main Stage of Drag Race.
“I don’t know how to describe my style of drag, because it is not the traditional style of drag. I think I focus a lot on my facial expression and the lip-sync of it all. I try to really embody what the song gives. I’m not really a pop-y girl,” she explains. “I like to do old stuff, like Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone. I like to do stuff you wouldn’t expect an entertainer like me to do and turn it on its head. I love to do Eartha Kitt and Barbra Streisand, and do it in a different way that’s just Black and glamorous.”
Her affinity for glamor doesn’t mean both heels aren’t planted on terra firma. Onya understands the art of drag, but also the art of community that drag foremothers built the industry on.
Entertainment Weekly
Onya Nurve from 'RuPaul's Drag Race'Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
She has two drag daughters, and a network of mentees she’s dedicated a large portion of her life to “making sure that they’re solid out of drag,” too. With a focus on mentorship in sewing, makeup, stage skills, and even employment access, Onya is going to change the world with art and good, old-fashioned compassion.
“I want to encourage people of color and Black people to not give up and to keep on going and to find those avenues and network with those people, because your time will come,” Onya says. “I didn’t think my time will come, and I didn’t give up. Look at me now.”
Project that to the rafters — and Onya to the winners’ circle while you’re at it.
RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on MTV. Watch EW's full interview with Onya at the top of this post.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
