How Drag Queen Billy L’Amour Lives His Life Extra

To live life extra means being able to overcome fear to do what truly makes us happy. For drag queen and wig entrepreneur Billy L'Amour, living life extra involves expressing himself unapologetically and staying true to his passions in life. And he first fell in love with what eventually would become a huge part of his life while he was a teenager.

Billy recalls that, "I first did drag during my time at an all-male comedy ballet company called Les Ballets Grandiva and we danced classical ballet like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, but in drag. That experience taught me how to become a performer and how to stand on stage as a fierce queen."

That first experience in drag emboldened something within him and Billy knew he needed to continue performing. He recalls what it was like just starting out in drag, an experience that solidified his passion for the art form.

Billy reminisces, saying that, "coming up in drag, I was a club kid who created his own looks out of nothing. For many of us starting out, we didn't have the designers that queens have now." Billy then jokes that, "when we wanted to create a look, we were told to 'go find some plastic in the street to make a head sculpture,' that's what the early days of drag were like."

Throughout his time performing, Billy crafted his drag persona, Billy L'Amour, after going through the journey of finding pride in his gender identity. Billy uses both he/she pronouns and uses his drag to express the femininity in himself.

He muses, "I created Billy L'Amour who is a singing, dancing, showgirl goddess from the Las Vegas of the 1960s, or from the Folies Bergere in Paris. She is an old-school showgirl. Her inspiration is Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame whose motto is 'Life is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death,' you've got to live, live, live! And that is how I live my life, following my passions and living to the fullest."

Although Billy expresses his individual self with his drag, he also lives life fearlessly by becoming an entrepreneur, which hadn't always been the plan.

Billy states that, "besides my drag, I also live life unapologetically with how I've remained true to myself and taking a chance on an unconventional path. I could've been traditional and become a hair stylist, but that wouldn't have rung true for me. I had to follow my passions."

And Billy will continue to be fearless in every aspect of his life, finding meaning in what he does. Thinking of what comes next, Billy has a mission in line with the passions he loves.

"When I look to the future, I see myself continuing to do what I love, and I'm so happy to say that I love what I do. I'd love to bring more visibility to drag and to help inspire people to appreciate drag in all its beauty."

Watch Billy below in the new Lexus RX commercial "Extra".