Actor, comedian and drag king Vico Ortiz’s gradual rise to consideration is irresistible. They’ve already grabbed a handful of award nominations from LGBTQ+ organizations. It’s solely a matter of time earlier than everybody is aware of their title.
Carving their very own path
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Ortiz, 33, is nonbinary. They have been born in 1991 in Puerto Rico and are fluent in Spanish and English.
They studied on the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. Ortiz started to appear in small display screen roles in 2011, beginning with a comedy brief known as Oprah’s Audiences Strikes On. An look in an episode of the Amazon present Clear in 2014 gave their profile a major increase.
Round 2017-2018, Ortiz instructed their agent they wished to audition not simply nonbinary characters however for all genders. After touchdown roles, Ortiz typically requested producers and writers in the event that they’d thought of turning the character nonbinary. Some embraced the thought and went with the change.
Ortiz’s IMDB profile already lists 77 credit. This consists of The Intercourse Lives Of Faculty Women, Knight In Shining Go well with, S.O.Z: Soldados o Zombies, and Vida. Their most high-profile function is the pirate, Jim Jimenez, within the comedy Our Flag Means Demise.
That function led to nominations within the Peabody Awards and Queerties. Ortiz additionally scooped a win (‘Fan Favourite Out LGBTQ+ Actor’) within the Autostraddle TV Awards.
The overall viewers response to Jim thrilled Ortiz.
“It’s been so stunning to see of us, together with Spanish-speaking of us, who’re like, ‘Wow, it’s so dope to see Nana (the girl who raised Jim) simply tackle the title Jim, and it’s not a giant situation,’” they instructed Out. “I’m getting plenty of these, and folks feeling empowered to remain of their reality and ask the individuals which can be round them to make use of they/them pronouns. Or use Jim as a dialog starter for folk who’ve by no means seen somebody who’s nonbinary or trans or gender nonconforming.”
Vico Suave
Apart from their display screen look, Ortiz has additionally carved out a reputation as a drag performer. They are saying it began by chance when a pal satisfied them to leap on stage throughout a drag present. On the time, Ortiz had little concept of what drag was. They created a personality named Vico Suave, impressed by the likes of Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny and Marc Antony: males seemingly snug with their femininity.
“I used to be utilizing my Puerto Rican songs, my music, my dancing, so I used to be capable of study to attach with myself and who I’m, but in addition my tradition and who I’m as a Puerto Rican. It’s really me on a platter,” they instructed the Advocate.
Rise of a King
Ortiz’s new one-person drag present, Rise Of A King, lately premiered on the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre (at A.R.T.) in New York Metropolis. It was described as “a fierce, gender-bending blast by way of their childhood, utilizing drag to interrupt the principles and rewrite the story.”
Ortiz will deliver the present to the Hollywood Fringe in late June. They have been initially set to rehearse the present earlier this 12 months in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the wildfires within the metropolis prompted an sudden relocation again to the island of their childhood.
“I by no means would’ve thought that I used to be gonna be capable to rehearse this present in Puerto Rico, not to mention in my mother and father’ home AND in entrance of my mother,” Ortiz revealed lately on Substack.
Via their TV work, podcasts (‘Today in Gay’ with Jasmin Savoy Brown), net exhibits and drag, Ortiz is exploring each side of their very own id. In flip, they’re breaking down binary boundaries within the media.
“All the things is a type of drag,” Ortiz instructed Queerty earlier this 12 months. “All the things is a few type of efficiency. And I feel that by way of that efficiency we are able to unlock and uncover plenty of issues about ourselves. Drag was actually the important thing for me to unlock the fluidity and my femininity and my masculinity and the way they’re enmeshed with one another.”
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