Nicky Doll

Karl Sanchez, known professionally as Nicky Doll, was born on March 14, 1991, in Marseille, France. He spent parts of his childhood living in St. Martin and Morocco, and his mother is Spanish. Sanchez pursued training to become a make-up artist before creating his drag persona, Nicky Doll, in 2009. Unlike many in the drag community, he developed his persona independently and does not belong to a traditional drag family. The name “Nicky Doll” is a tribute to Nicki Minaj and aims to convey versatility, reflecting the various personalities embodied by his drag character. Sanchez describes Nicky Doll as a “90’s life-size doll.”

Nicky Doll gained significant international recognition in 2020 as the first French contestant on the twelfth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” During her participation, she was noted as a “look queen” and openly discussed the challenges she faced due to a language barrier on the show. Although she was eliminated in episode 5, finishing eleventh overall, her time on the show included one top placement and two bottom placements, successfully lip-syncing for her life against Dahlia Sin. A notable moment during this period was when RuPaul personally selected Nicky Doll to do Pete Davidson’s makeup for a pre-recorded sketch on “Saturday Night Live.”

Since 2022, Nicky Doll has been the main host of “Drag Race France,” which premiered its first season on June 25, 2022. She has also hosted “Drag Race France All Stars,” announced in November 2024. In addition to her hosting duties, Nicky Doll has headlined the “Drag Race France Live” tour across major French cities, Belgium, and Switzerland. In 2023, she co-created and starred in “Les Voyages de Nicky,” a four-part documentary series exploring queer communities globally, with episodes filmed in India, Greece, Mexico, and Japan. This series had its international premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York City in October 2024. In May 2024, she provided commentary for the French broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 semi-finals on Culturebox and participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics torch relay in Arles, France. She also performed her single “I had a dream” during the fashion runway and dance segment of the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on July 26, 2024.