Katya Zamolodchikova

Katya Zamolodchikova

Katya on stage
Born Brian Joseph McCook
(1982-05-01) May 1, 1982
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
Years active 2006–present
Known for
Awards RuPaul's Drag Race Miss Congeniality 2015
Website Official website

Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova (Russian: Екатерина Петро́вна Замоло́дчикова), also known as Katya (Russian: Катя) or Katya Zamolodchikova, is the stage persona of Brian Joseph McCook (born May 1, 1982), an American drag queen and actor from Boston, Massachusetts. Zamolodchikova is best known for competing on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race, during which she was voted Miss Congeniality and placed fifth. She would later go on to become a finalist on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. Along with fellow Drag Race contestant Trixie Mattel, she hosts UNHhhh, a web series hosted on the World of Wonder YouTube channel that has amassed over 10 million views as of May 2017.[1][2]

Early life

A native of Marlborough, Massachusetts, McCook graduated from Marlborough High School and attended Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he studied video and performance art in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) program, where he first became interested in drag.[3] He has an older brother and a younger sister. He is of Irish ancestry and was raised as an Irish Catholic.[4]

McCook created the Russian drag character Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova in 2006, creating the stage name from a combination of Russian names and one of his favorite gymnasts, Elena Zamolodchikova.[5] When creating his drag character, McCook stated that he was inspired by "female comedians and just funny interesting women like Tracy Ullman, Maria Bamford [and] Amy Sedaris." The Russian-based aspect of his persona, however, was inspired by a professor McCook had while studying at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In episode one of his respective season on RuPaul's Drag Race, McCook said that this professor "never left the house without a full face of makeup [with] six inch stilettos in the snow."[6] Since then, McCook went on to take several Russian courses and mastered the harsh accent of most Russians using a cassette tape called "Pronounce It Perfectly." McCook is not Russian himself.[7]

As Katya, McCook hosted a monthly drag show called "Perestroika" at the Jacques Cabaret.[8]

Career

RuPaul's Drag Race

Katya had auditioned for RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo TV four times before being chosen to participate in season 7.[9] Katya won two challenges in episodes six and ten, however, was eliminated in episode 11. The decision to eliminate Katya was controversial among fans of the show.[10] During the Season 7 reunion, Katya was voted Miss Congeniality.

On June 17, 2016, Katya was announced as one of the cast members on the second season of RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race.[11] She lost the title to Alaska Thunderfuck, coming in as a runner-up along with Detox.

Life after Drag Race

Katya regularly performs in her hometown of Boston in several gay nightclubs. She typically performs songs of many popular Russian singers and bands, such as Alla Pugacheva, t.A.T.u., Glukoza. Because of her performances, these songs have drawn a lot of attention in these clubs.[5] When asked what she planned on doing after the show, Katya stated that she will be doing a one-woman show, traveling the world and continuing creating new web series on her YouTube page. The one-woman show, "Help Me, I'm Dying," is currently being written by Zamolodchikova and will more than likely focus on her life and daily occurrences as a drag queen. Once she finishes with this project, Katya is hoping to start a short drag-based comedy sketch show inspired by "The Kids In the Hall", but with a more "Adult Swim" background.[5] For now, Katya continues to travel the world and has had tours in Brazil and Australia with other drag queens such as Trixie Mattel and Willam Belli.

Katya has created several web series on her YouTube channel, "welovekatya", including RuGRETs, RuFLECTIONS, Drag 101, and Irregardlessly Trish, the last of which is about a Bostonian hairdresser who lives in a dumpster. Katya improvises some of her material and also writes with a creative partner, Avi Paul Weinstein.

In November 2015, Katya appeared on the Christmas Queens album, singing a modified version of the song "12 Days of Christmas".[12] Katya also has a show on YouTube with fellow Drag Race contestant Trixie Mattel called UNHhhh.[13]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2015 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself (contestant) Season 7 – placed 5th, won Miss Congeniality [14]
2016 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself (in drag) Season 8, Episode 10, "Grand Finale" [15]
Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul Himself (panelist) Episode 2 [16]
RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars Himself (contestant) Season 2 – Runner-Up [17]
2017 Playing House Himself (in drag) Season 3, Episode 8, "Reverse the Curse"

Web series

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2015 Untucked Herself (in drag) Online sister show to RuPaul's Drag Race [18]
RuFLECTIONS Chronicling her time on RuPaul's Drag Race season 7 [19]
RuGRETS [20]
Irregardlessly Trish Trish Series following one of her alter-egos, Trish [21]
2016 I'm Not a Doctor, with Dr. Katya Herself (in drag) Produced by World of Wonder [22]
Drag 101 [23]
UNHhhh Produced by World of Wonder, with Trixie Mattel [13]
Total RuCall Chronicling her time on RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race season 2 [24]

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2017 Sebastian Xenia [25]

Discography

Other appearances

Title Year Other artist(s) Album Ref.
"Drag U" 2015 RuPaul RuPaul Presents: CoverGurlz 2 [26]
"12 Days of Christmas" Other RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Christmas Queens [27]
"Read U Wrote U" 2016 RuPaul featuring Katya, Alaska, Detox & Roxxxy Andrews Non-album single [28]
"Bossa Nova Christmas in Outer Space" Jackie Beat Christmas Queens 2 [29]

References

  1. ↑ "UNHhhh - YouTube". YouTube. WOWPresents.
  2. ↑ Pandaraboyina, Vennela. "Queens, wigs, and RuPaul - Campus Times". Campus Times. Campus Times. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  3. ↑ Infante, Victor D. "Marlboro-born performer Katya shoots for 'Drag Race' fame". telegram.com. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Episode 76 - Katya, retrieved 2016-12-15
  5. 1 2 3 Andre Akimov. "His name is Katya". RUSSIAN CHICAGO MAGAZINE. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Katya Gets To Work - Video Clip from RuPaul's Drag Race | S7, E1 | LOGOTV.com". Logo TV. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  7. ↑ "'RuPaul's Drag Race': Miss Congeniality winner Katya speaks!". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  8. ↑ Oliver, Maria (29 April 2011). "Night Watch: Perestroika". Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Juengling, Konrad (6 Mar 2015). "PQ MONTHLY GRILLS KATYA OF "RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE" SEASON 7". PQ Monthly. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  10. ↑ Fallon, Kevin. "Justice for Katya: Inside the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 7 Finale". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  11. ↑ "RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race season 2 cast revealed — exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  12. ↑ "Queens from RuPaul's Drag Race to Release a Holiday Album: Hear One of the Tracks". People Magazine. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Trixie Mattel And Katya Are A Laugh Riot In Their New Web Series, "UNHhhh"". Next. 25 March 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  14. ↑ "RuPaul's Drag Race recap: season seven, episode one – the devil wears nada". The Guardian. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Red Carpet Fashion: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8 Los Angeles Finale". Qweerty. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Gay For Play Game Show Starring RuPaul Featuring Amber Rose". Logo. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  17. ↑ "RuPaul All Stars Announcement". Twitter. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  18. ↑ "Untucked: RuPaul's Drag Race Episode 1 Born Naked". WOWPresents on Youtube. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  19. ↑ "RuFLECTIONS with Katya". welovekatya on YouTube. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  20. ↑ "RuGRETS with Katya". welovekatya on YouTube. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "Irregardlessly Trish". welovekatya on YouTube. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "I'm Not A Doctor". WOWPresents on YouTube. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  23. ↑ "Drag 101 with Katya". welovekatya on YouTube. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  24. ↑ "Total RuCall - Episode 01 - We Love Katya". welovekatya on YouTube. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "Sebastian". Inside Out Film and Video Festival, 2017.
  26. ↑ "RuPaul Presents CoverGurlz2". iTunes. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  27. ↑ "Christmas Queens". iTunes. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  28. ↑ "RuPaul Announces New Single "Read U Wrote U"". Idolator. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  29. ↑ "Christmas Queens 2 by Various Artists on Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
Preceded by
BenDeLaCreme		 RuPaul's Drag Race Miss Congeniality
Season 7 (2015) 		Succeeded by
Cynthia Lee Fontaine
Preceded by
Raven		 RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars runner-up
All Stars 2 (2016)
(with Detox) 		Current Runner-Up
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