Willam Belli

Willam Belli, mononymously known as Willam, is an American drag performer, actor, musician, comedian, author, and media personality. Born on June 30, 1982, in Philadelphia, Belli has Italian and Yugoslav ancestry and was raised in a Catholic family. He spent his youth in Florida, where his father worked at the Kennedy Space Center. Belli became interested in garment creation at a young age, leading to costume design work in local theater. He first performed in drag at age 13 for a community production of Jesus Christ Superstar and began earning money from drag performances at age 16, the same year he was legally emancipated.

Belli began pursuing television acting in the early 2000s, landing his first role on the drama series The District in 2002. Throughout the decade, he made appearances on programs such as Boston Public, Cold Case, The Shield, and My Name Is Earl, as well as the film American Wedding. His most prominent recurring television role came in the medical drama Nip/Tuck, in which he played the character Cherry Peck. During this period, Belli also joined the drag musical group Tranzkuntinental and appeared in public fashion and music video projects, including Rihanna's "S&M" video in 2011.

In late 2011, Belli was selected to compete on the fourth season of the reality competition show RuPaul's Drag Race, which aired in 2012. Belli won two main challenges during his tenure on the program before becoming the first contestant in the show's history to be disqualified. Belli subsequently utilized the national spotlight to promote new creative projects, including parody songs such as "Chow Down" and "Love You Like a Big Schlong," and self-released his debut studio album, The Wreckoning, in late 2012.

Following his television exposure, Belli launched the YouTube comedy review series Willam's Beatdown. In 2013, he achieved major viral success alongside drag performers Detox and Vicky Vox as part of the group DWV with the comedy single "Boy Is a Bottom," which reached the Billboard Comedy Digital Songs chart. After DWV disbanded in 2014, Belli formed the drag supergroup the AAA Girls alongside Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck, participating in commercial modeling campaigns and joint musical releases.

Belli continued to expand his solo music and media portfolio over the following years. He released his second comedy album, Shartistry in Motion, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. In 2016, he published his first book, Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way, which served as the foundation for a 2017 call-in talk show hosted on Fullscreen. He also launched a signature fragrance collaboration, Scented by Willam, in 2017.

In his acting career, Belli earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series for his performance in the dark comedy web series EastSiders. In 2018, he appeared as the character Emerald in the film A Star Is Born alongside Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. That same year, Belli co-created the Drag Race podcast Race Chaser with Alaska Thunderfuck, later co-founding the podcast network Moguls of Media in 2020 to produce queer-focused audio content.