Manila Luzon

Karl Philip Michael Westerberg, born August 10, 1981, is an American drag queen, television personality, recording artist, and comedian known professionally as Manila Luzon. Raised Catholic in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, Westerberg was born to an American father and a mother from Manila on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, from which the stage name was derived. Graphic design was studied at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Luzon achieved international recognition in 2011 after participating in the third season of the reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race. Appearing in every episode of the season, Luzon reached the finale and finished as the runner-up following a final lip-sync performance. This exposure led to national and international booking opportunities at various LGBT events, including pride celebrations in New York and Vancouver. Luzon also became active in health advocacy, appearing in a Gilead Sciences commercial campaign before the outfit worn in the advertisement was auctioned off by Logo TV to support the National Association of People with AIDS.

Following the broadcast, Luzon expanded into promotional and media projects, appearing in advertisements for the travel website Orbitz, featured segments for US Weekly, and an episode of the MTV series Made. In 2012, toy company NiniMomo released a poseable fashion doll modeled after Luzon's iconic pineapple dress, marking the first instance of a Drag Race contestant being commemorated as a fashion doll. Additionally, Luzon appeared as a playable character in the mobile application RuPaul's Drag Race: Dragopolis and contributed to the compilation music series Christmas Queens.

In 2012, Luzon competed on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars as part of a duo with Latrice Royale, finishing in joint seventh and eighth place. Returning to the franchise in 2018 for All Stars 4, Luzon competed individually, earning three challenge victories before being eliminated in the eighth episode to finish in sixth place. Guest television appearances followed, including the premiere of Drag Race season 11 and an acting role on the soap opera General Hospital.

As a musical artist, Luzon featured on the 2018 track "Where My Man At" alongside VELO and Eureka O'Hara, and released the solo single "Go Fish" in 2019 alongside an accompanying music video. Luzon received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and was ranked 19th on New York magazine's 2019 list of top American drag queens. Beginning in December 2022, Luzon began hosting, serving as head judge, and executive producing the Amazon Prime Video Filipino reality competition series Drag Den, which has aired two seasons.

In personal life, Luzon previously resided in Manhattan with partner Antoine Ashley, a fellow performer who passed away in 2012. Luzon subsequently relocated to Los Angeles in 2013 while maintaining ties to New York City. In December 2017, Luzon married Michael Alvarez at the Silver Bells Wedding Chapel in a ceremony officiated by an Elvis impersonator.