Voted in the top 100 World’s Sexiest Women by FHM, Australian Idol wildcard and semi finalist Courtney Act (aka Shane Jenek)is coming to Perthto performinRENT, the Musical at the Regal Theatre inSubiaco, starting November 9. Often described as one of the great modern musicals of our time, Rent is loosely based on La Boheme, haswonmany prestigiousawards, including a Pulitzer Prize for drama and four Tony Awards, and remains one of the longest running Broadway shows in history. Courtney will perform as Angel, a drag character at the emotional core of the play – ‘My character is a musician who expresses himself through drag. It is a very exciting role for mebecause I get toplay a different boy andgirl to the boy and girl I normally play.’
OUTinPerth’s Katherine Wolfgramme spoke to the talented and beloved queen to get the story about her journey from a ‘normal’ Australian upbringing to the stage.
Growing Up: I am from Brisbane, I had atypically Australianchildhood – pool , two car garage and loving family. Mum recognized very early that I loved singing and dancing she allowed me to follow that calling by taking me to song and dance lessons.
Drag Starts: My first time in drag was when I was performing during my high school years. We toured Queensland performing at other high schools for an end of school year production with the theme ‘Spirit of Christmas’. Priscilla Queen of the Desert was still at the movies, so it must have been around 1996. There were two of us and we borrowed our school mate’s bikinis and stuffed them with toilet paper and boogied to ‘I love the Night Life’. It was hysterical. Years later, when I was living in Sydney, a female friend persuaded meto go to Melbourne one weekend. We went to Napoleon and had our make up professionally done and boughtbags of make up. The next evening was a dance party in Sydney called Frisky.I wore two boob tubes – one for my top and one for my skirt – and strappy gold high heels. That really was the first time I stepped out as Courtney Act. Mybig sister Vanity Fair stepped in and helped me polish up on my hair and make up. I was given good advice that night by another friend Mogadonna, who told me to strap my heels really tight to cut off circulation so I didn’t feelany pain!
Breaking into the Industry: I did drag randomly over the next year, just for Mardi Gras and special occasions until I had a business idea – I thought selling lollies as a vendor in night clubs was an untapped market that would make me millions of dollars (I had just read Richard Branson’s autobiography). I was so excited that I was going to be rich! So I approached the clubs and Ricca Paris from Stonewall Hotel said she loved the idea but she wanted a drag queen doing it. At the time I could not afford to employ anyone. I was a television host on Nickelodeon Children’s TVon Foxtel, where we shot one month’s worth of television in aday. So I would live like a queen for a week and live like a pauper for three. I was young and managed my money badly – to cut a long story short – I could not afford a drag queen so I did it myself! I trudged up and down Oxford Street whirling through all the clubs trying to sell my glow sticks, chewing gum and lollipops in my white PVC outfit until my friend Mogadonna finally felt sorry for me and offered me a job in her new drag show at The Stonewall Hotel. And that is how I got into drag shows.
Crossing Over: I found the crossoverfromthe gayaudience to the broadermarketvery surreal. I am lucky because the gay communitycan bea big supportivefamily. It is small enough to be enclosed,but big enough to feel like it is real. I was working six nights a week sometimes doing two drag shows a night. I really enjoyed myself but wanted to extend my repertoire, so singingindrag was a natural progression. I started singing live at the Midnight Shift on Saturday nights. Then the Australian Idol auditions came along. Iended in the top 40, but returned as a wildcard. Afterwards I was asked back again as a roving reporter and thenwas invited to travelon the Idol Tour, which bought me to Perth the first time. We performed at the Burswood Dome to audiences of 12,000 to 14,000 people a night – that was spectacular. Being on Idol wasa whole new experience. We, the cast of Idol, were very new to the media hype and the public recognition… Looking back, Idol was an experience that really could only be described as surreal, I was also very young  – it’s only now that I ammore grounded I can step backand comprehend and remember all the wonderful and fun things that happened during that time.
Touring Europe: Overall Paris was my favourite – it is a beautiful city. Everyone I had spoken to told me I would love Paris. When I arrived it seemed to be very similar to other European cities, but on closer inspection the city had an air of sophistication and beauty quite above anything else I had ever seen. Ibiza was amazing, but more than ten days would be too tiring. It is like Sydney Mardi Gras everynight, and it was crazy. London was very interesting. I looked on the Internet before I went and there were mixed reviews. I found it was very similar to Sydney’sgay sceneexceptit wasmuch larger and there were manymore clubs. There was also a slight touch of New York retro glamour. The drag scene was quite different in London.The Soho Drag Queens do not perform, butmainly playhostesses to each club. Their jobs are towander around the club and just look fabulous, adding that touch of glamour, colour and movement. The Hostess of the’Tranny Shack’, a club in Soho, wasDusty O. Shewore onlyVivienWestwood designer clothing and was very much one of London’s very established drag queens… One trend I found particularly unusual was ‘Meggings’ – men’s leggings, and the other trend was men going out as men but wearing high heels. I read about it in Cosmopolitan before I left Australia, but did not believe it until I saw it myself! I intend to return to Europe for their whole summer next year.
Keeping a Day Job: I am now in partnership in a business called WigsByVanity.com. My best friend and big sister Vanity Fair (Ben Moir)and myself own an online wig business specializing in hairline wigs for the stage. I handle the business side and Vanity is the creative director. Vanity has worked in the wig industry for 11 years. We had shop together on Oxford Street in Sydney and we tried to cater to everyone but came to realize that with the Internet we could be more specialized in one area that could reach a worldwide market. We have just returned from Asia developing and designing our own range of wigs.Our largest market is our synthetic range, but we also have a couture wig range which is made to measure human hair and individually hand made. We like to call it the ‘Uber Riah’. Uber is German for Super andRiah is Polarie (tranny talk)for wig.I myself only wear our product… It is very exciting to have another business outside of my acting and singing career.
Life and Love: I now have a boyfriend, my first proper boyfriend. I had spent most of my life just having fun, probably with all that was going on it would have been hard to commit to any one person. We met at the right time. I was finally ready to open up to someone, and we make each other happy… One thing I havelearned from my life so faris that what is important in the end is your family and friends and those you love.
Courtney willalso star and sing live inher own One WoMan Show at the Subiaco Arts Centre at 2 PM on the 21st of October as part of the Free @ Subi season, as well as performing in The Cabaret Lounge at the Pride Party – UniversALL on Saturday October 27th.
