I honestly never anticipated that I would become a fan of drag shows like I am today. However, I have been to several now and each one has been more of a joy than the last, which is why I am glad that there are also plenty of movies that celebrate drag performers to watch. Ranging from dramas and comedies to documentaries, the following are some great LGBTQ+ movies that put a spotlight on drag queens in a fun, but sometimes also raw and honest, fashion.
Tucked (2018)
Director: Jamie Patterson
Starring: Derren Nesbitt, Jordan Stephens
What it’s about: A younger drag queen and a veteran, who was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, strike up an unlikely connection.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Tucked is a heartfelt, inspiring drama about being comfortable with your true self, which is just what drag is all about.
How to watch Tucked
Jump, Darling (2020)
Director: Phil Connell
Starring: Cloris Leachman, Thomas Duplessie
What it’s about: A young drag performer reeling from a break-up reconnects with his grandmother.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Cloris Leachman gives her final performance in Jump, Darling, which features some wonderful drag performances amongst its heartwarming family drama narrative.
How to watch Jump, Darling
Viva (2015)
Director: Patty Breathnach
Starring: Héctor Medina, Jorge Perugorría
What it’s about: A young Cuban hairdresser is forced to give up his dream of performing in drag when his father comes back into his life.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: At times, Viva is a heavy watch for its brutal depiction of violent prejudice but is, ultimately, another winning celebration of the art of drag.
How to watch Viva
Slay (2024)
Director: Jem Garrard
Starring: Ryan A. Taylor, Heidi N Closet, Crystal Methyd, Cara Melle
What it’s about: A drag quartet is mistakenly booked to perform at a biker bar that is suddenly attacked by vicious bloodsuckers.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Fans of drag and horror-comedy movies will love the funny, Tubi-exclusive vampire flick Slay, which almost feels like a sparklier version of From Dusk Til Dawn.
How to watch Slay
The Bitch Who Stole Christmas (2023)
Director: Don Scardino
Starring: RuPaul, Krysta Rodriguez
What it’s about: A journalist is sent by her curmudgeonly boss to “dig up some dirt” about a town infatuated with the holidays
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Originally airing on VH1, The Bitch Who Stole Christmas is one of the best Christmas movies to incorporate drag into its narrative so far.
How to watch The Bitch Who Stole Christmas
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Director: Jim Sharman
Starring: Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon
What it’s about: A young couple is forced to spend a dark and stormy night in the strange and spooky residence of a mad scientist.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Said mad scientist is Dr. Frank-N-Furter in one of the greatest queer horror movies ever made, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is also one of the greatest musical horror comedy movies ever made for its exhilarating show tunes and hilariously surreal tribute to campy 1950s sci-fi.
How to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Rent or buy The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Amazon
- Buy The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (1994)
Director: Stephan Elliott
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Terrence Stamp
What it’s about: Two experienced drag performers from Sydney and a transgender woman take their own customized bus to a show in the remote Australian desert.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: One of the most essential films about the art of drag is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which won an Academy Award for Lizzy Gardliner and Tim Chappel’s eclectic costume design.
How to watch The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
- Stream The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on MGM+
- Stream The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Tubi
- Rent or buy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Amazon
- Buy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on Blu-ray on Amazon
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
Director: Beeban Kidron
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo
What it’s about: After stealing a photo autographed by one of the best Catwoman actors, three New York drag queens take it on a trip to Hollywood.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: It may have one of the worst movie titles ever but To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is still another great ‘90s movie about road-tripping drag performers for how Snipes, Swayze, and Leguizamo play wonderfully against type.
How to watch To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
- Rent or buy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar on Amazon
- Buy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar on Blu-ray on Amazon
Hedwig And The Angry Inch (2001)
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: John Cameron Mitchell
What it’s about: An East German, genderqueer punk rock singer recalls her life story while touring the United States with her punk band in search of a former bandmate/lover who's passing off her song as his own.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Mitchell dressed in drag to originate the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch in the stage musical he also wrote the book for before reprising the character in this dazzling comedy that he also wrote.
How to watch Hedwig and The Angry Inch
Victor/Victoria (1982)
Director: Blake Edwards
Starring: Julie Andrews, James Garner
What it’s about: A struggling, talented soprano finds work pretending to be a man in a drag show, which ends up affecting her social life when a Chicago nightclub owner falls for her.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: There are also female performers who impersonate men known as “Drag Kings,” but the story that inspired the Academy Award-winning Victor/Victoria takes things a step further by positing intriguing and still-relevant questions about gender identity.
How to watch Victor/Victoria
Rent (2005)
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Taye Diggs, Rosario Dawson
What it’s about: A diverse group of New York City Bohemians bond over their troubles related to finance, sexuality, and health in the early 1990s.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: One of the most important and iconic characters from the Tony-winning Rent is Angel Dumott Shunard, who, according to Out Magazine, was always intended to be depicted as a drag queen by composer Jonathan Larson.
How to watch Rent
Kinky Boots (2005)
Director: Julian Jarrold
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor
What it’s about: Desperate to save his father’s shoe factory, a man enlists the help of a local drag queen to rebrand the company as a manufacturer of footwear designed specifically for drag performers in 1970s England.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Also one of the best Chiwetel Ejiofor movies, the hilarious and heartwarming Kinky Boots — which Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein later adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical — is inspired by the true story of how the acceptance of a culture that most people at the time were unfamiliar with, and even intimidated by, helped save a struggling business.
How to watch Kinky Boots
- Stream Kinky Boots on Paramount+
- Rent or buy Kinky Boots on Amazon
- Buy Kinky Boots on Blu-ray on Amazon
Hurricane Bianca (2016)
Director: Matt Kugelman
Starring: Roy Haylock, Rachel Dratch, RuPaul
What it’s about: After a New York-based teacher is fired from his new Texas school for being gay, he adopts a female persona in order to get his job back.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Roy Haylock makes his drag queen alter ego, Bianca Del Rio, the title character of Hurricane Bianca — a fun comedy in the spirit of Mrs. Doubtfire.
How to watch Hurricane Bianca
Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)
Director: Jonathan Butterell, Dan Gillespie Sells, Tom MacRae
Starring: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Richard E. Grant
What it’s about: A gay 16-year-old from the United Kingdom aspires to be a drag queen.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Bianca Del Rio appears in this adaptation of the acclaimed, fact-based stage musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie — a visually inventive, inspirational Amazon Prime Original movie about overcoming prejudice and learning to be yourself.
How to watch Everybody's Talking About Jamie
Freak Show (2017)
Director: Trudie Styler
Starring: Alex Lawther, AnnaSophia Robb, Bette Midler
What it’s about: A teenager rebels against his ultra-conservative high school and runs for homecoming queen.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Yet another empowering high school movie about struggling to overcome prejudice and learning to be yourself is Freak Show — a star-studded dramedy based on James St. James’ novel.
How to watch Freak Show
Paris Is Burning (1990)
Director: Jennie Livingston
Featuring: Brooke Xtravaganza, André Christian
What it’s about: An exploration of Harlem’s ballroom culture in the mid-to-late 1980s, as explained and observed from the perspective of New York’s Black, Latinx, and queer communities.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize, Paris Is Burning is considered to be one of the most important documentaries about drag, and would heavily inspire co-creator Ryan Murphy’s hit TV show, Pose.
How to watch Paris is Burning
- Stream Paris is Burning on Max
- Rent or buy Paris is Burning on Amazon
- Buy Paris is Burning on Blu-ray on Amazon
Wig (2019)
Director: Chris Moukarabel
Featuring: Neil Patrick Harris
What it’s about: A chronicle of the history and long-awaited return of one of the most famous gay culture celebrations, featuring some prolific drag performers.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: The HBO original documentary Wig captures the 2018 revival of the New York City-based drag festival, Wigstock, and also captures a performance by Neil Patrick Harris in the title role from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
How to watch Wig
Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts (2019)
Director: Nicholas Zeig-Owens
Starring: Trixie Mattel
What it’s about: An inside look at the life and career of one of the world’s most famous modern drag performers with and without makeup on.
Why it is a great movie for celebrating drag performers: Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts follows the rise of the titular drag queen, from her stint on RuPaul’s Drag Race (and winner of All Stars 3) to her success as a musician, and more.
How to watch Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts
Drag culture lives on and off of the stage, and in your home, when you stream these movies.
