Kimora Blac is the drag name of Von Nguyen, a performer currently based in Las Vegas who reached a wider audience when she competed on the ninth season of the legendary RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2017. She finished 13th in the competition, but it still helped her to build her following and reputation. Today, she has a YouTube channel with a healthy 67,000 subscribers and on which she posts regular makeup reviews and other beauty content. She also has a popular Instagram account with 344,000 followers. She has also guested on shows like The Talk, Botched, and The Trixie & Katya Show and appeared in VH1’s 2021 festive film, The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, which features many Drag Race alumni.
Nguyen is of Vietnamese heritage but was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1988. She first performed in amateur drag aged fifteen and turned professional three years later. She took her drag name from American model Kimmora Lee Simmons and a corruption of her favourite colour. She auditioned for Drag Race three times before finally getting the call to appear in the ninth season. Unfortunately, she was in the bottom two for the second episode, but she won a reprieve after winning a lip-sync battle. The following week, however, her Drag Race dream was over.
However, the interest in her act and personality wasn’t, and she has continued being interviewed by websites and talk shows ever since. With her first film role now in the bag, as well as roles in several music videos under her belt, her short time on Drag Race has proved a useful springboard to establishing herself in her own right.