Rita Baga

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Rita Baga
Rita Baga.jpg
Born
Jean-François Guevremont

(1987-05-27) May 27, 1987 (age 34)
Boucherville
EducationUniversité du Québec à Montréal (BA)
OccupationDrag queen, singer, event programmer
Years active2007–present
Known forCanada's Drag Race

Rita Baga is the stage name of Jean-François Guevremont (born May 27, 1987), a Canadian drag queen from Montreal, Quebec,[1] who is most noted as a Top 3 finalist in the first season of Canada's Drag Race.[2]

In addition to performing as Rita Baga, Guevremont worked as director of programming for Fierté Montréal.[3]

Education[]

Guevremont is an alumnus of the Université du Québec à Montréal, where he studied human resources and tourist development.[4]

Career[]

Guevremont began his drag career in 2007, performing at Cabaret Mado for the birthday show of his friend Dream, performing a medley from the film Sister Act with colleagues Marla and Célinda. Initially his drag name was Rita d'Marde (A phonetic play on the words "pile of shit", the name sounds like "Laugh, asshole !"),[1] which he changed to Rita Baga in 2010 when he began performing at Cabaret Mado as a regular.[1] In 2013, Rita Baga appeared on La Guerre des clans, V's French-language version of Family Feud.[4]

In 2014, Rita Baga became the permanent host of Bagalicious, the Sunday night program at Cabaret Mado.[5] In 2016 she launched MX Fierté, a cross-Canada drag pageant held in conjunction with Fierté Montréal;[6] in the same year, she travelled to Mumbai, India to perform at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.[7]

In 2017 Guevremont participated in Ils de jour, elles de nuit, an Ici ARTV documentary series about drag queens, alongside Barbada de Barbades, Gaby, Lady Boom Boom, Lady Pounana and Tracy Trash.[8]

Canada's Drag Race filmed in late 2019, and the cast was revealed to the public in 2020 several weeks before the show's premiere on July 2. Rita Baga was one of two queens from Montreal, alongside Kiara, to appear in the season.[9] In August 2020, with Fierté Montréal suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Guevremont in his role as director of programming helped to coordinate a special online edition of the annual Drag Superstars show, which featured all of the queens from Canada's Drag Race in prerecorded video performances.[3] While most other queens performed lipsyncs to established pop songs, Guevremont used his segment to premiere the music video for Rita Baga's own original single "Something Spiritual".[4] Rita Baga made it to the Top 3 in Canada's Drag Race, with Scarlett BoBo and Priyanka, and won the most weekly challenges over the course of the season, but ultimately lost the crown to Priyanka.[2]

Following the conclusion of the Canada's Drag Race season, the cast announced a cross-Canada tour, to be performed at drive-in venues due to the ongoing social distancing restrictions remaining in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] The tour was hosted by Brooke Lynn Hytes; as the Top 3 finalists, Priyanka, Scarlett Bobo and Rita Baga appeared at every date on the tour, while other cast members performed at selected dates based on availability.[11]

Alongside Priyanka, Scarlett BoBo and Jimbo, Rita Baga participated in an online panel as part of the 2020 Just for Laughs festival.[12]

In December 2020, it was announced that Rita Baga would be part of the cast of the first season of the Quebec version of Big Brother Célébrités.[13] She was evicted on day 29 in twelfth place.

In April 2021 it was announced that Rita Baga would be one of the regular panelists, alongside Roxane Bruneau, on Qui sait chanter?, the Quebec adaptation of I Can See Your Voice.[14] In July, Rita Baga and , who had been one of her housemates on Big Brother Célebrités, cohosted a Carte blanche gala at the 2021 Just for Laughs festival.[15]

In September, she had a guest role appearing as herself in a fifth season episode of Madame Lebrun, the Quebec adaptation of Mrs. Brown's Boys.[16]

In October 2021, Rita Baga launched Créature, a theatre tour blending lipsynching, live singing and comedy segments.[17] In November, she was announced as the host of La Drag en moi, a makeover series based on Dragnificent! in which drag queens help ordinary people to look their best for an important event; the series is slated to premiere on Crave in 2022.[18]

Filmography[]

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
2020 Canada's Drag Race (season 1) Contestant Runner-up
2020–21 La semaine des 4 Julie Herself Celebrity guest, 5 episodes
2021 Sans rancune Herself One episode[19]
2021 Big Brother Célébrités Contestant Eliminated; 12th place
2021 Qui sait chanter? Herself Main panelist
2021 Madame Lebrun Herself One episode

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Hugo Dumas, "La future reine québécoise du Nord?". La Presse, August 19, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Rebecca Alter, "Canada’s Drag Race Season Finale Recap: What’s Her Name?". Vulture.com, September 21, 2020.
  3. ^ a b André-Constantin Passiour, "Une édition canadienne toute spéciale de Drag Superstars". Fugues, August 9, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Louis Angot, "8 choses à savoir sur Rita Baga, la candidate montréalaise à « Canada's Drag Race »". Narcity, July 6, 2020.
  5. ^ André-Constantin Passiour, "Rita Baga rend hommage à Adele". Fugues, September 19, 2016.
  6. ^ André-Constantin Passiour, "C’est reparti pour une 2e édition du concours MX Fierté". Fugues, February 1, 2018.
  7. ^ "‘We must all be treated equally; that is the future’". The Hindu, May 27, 2016.
  8. ^ Emmanuelle Plante, "L’envers du décor de la culture drag". Le Journal de Montréal, April 1, 2017.
  9. ^ Samuel Larochelle, "Les drag queens montent au front". La Presse, June 28, 2020.
  10. ^ Peter Knegt, "All hail our queen: A conversation with Canada's Drag Race winner Priyanka". CBC Arts, September 10, 2020.
  11. ^ Tyler Jadah, "Canada's Drag Race is coming to Montreal's drive-in venue this month". Daily Hive, September 10, 2020.
  12. ^ Jenelle Riley, "For Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the Show Will Go On(line)". Variety, October 2, 2020.
  13. ^ Élizabeth Lepage-Boily, "La drag queen Rita Baga se joint à l'aventure Big Brothers Célébrités". Showbizz.net, December 11, 2020.
  14. ^ Yannick Leclerc, "Rita Baga et Roxanne Bruneau seront les panélistes régulières de «Qui sait chanter?»". Fugues, April 27, 2021.
  15. ^ Marissa Groguhé, "Rita Baga et Jean-Thomas Jobin, un duo insolite qui promet". La Presse, July 23, 2021.
  16. ^ Stéphanie Nolin, "Rita Baga transforme la famille Lebrun dans la première de saison de Madame Lebrun". Showbizz.net, September 28, 2021.
  17. ^ Bruno Lapointe, "Rita Baga: divine Créature". Le Journal de Montréal, October 21, 2021.
  18. ^ Marie-Lise Rousseau, "Rita Baga animera «La drag en moi» l’hiver prochain". Métro, November 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Audrée Laurin, "Rita Baga sera à Sans Rancune et à En direct de l'univers!". HollywoodPQ, February 12, 2021.
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