Courtney Act

Courtney Act

Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of Australian Idol in 2003. After the show, she signed to BMG Australia (now Sony Music Australia), and she released her debut single, "Rub Me Wrong", which peaked at No. 29 on the ARIA Singles Chart and eventually gained a gold certification, ten years after its release. While auditioning for Australian Idol, she also became the first LGBTQ contestant to openly appear on a reality TV talent show. In 2014, Courtney was one of the runners-up in season six of RuPaul's Drag Race. In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her third on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.In 2014, Courtney returned to recording music and released the extended play Kaleidoscope (2015), which included the title-track which was the official song for the 2016 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Courtney began performing in drag girl-group, The AAA Girls, released several singles and embarked on the North American, Access All Areas Tour (2015). In January 2018, Courtney appeared on season 21 of Celebrity Big Brother UK and ultimately won the series with 49.43% of the final public vote. She began branching into a hosting career, hosting The Bi Life, the UK's first bisexual reality dating show, on E! and her own television special, The Courtney Act Show. Courtney released "Fight for Love" in late 2018 for the Eurovision - Australia Decides final; she finished in fourth place. In 2019, Courtney competed and was runner-up on season 16 of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, where she was paired with Joshua Keefe. This made Courtney and Keefe the first same-sex pairing in the history of the Australian version, as well as the second same-sex pairing on any version of the show. Courtney/Jenek uses the pronoun she when referring to Courtney and he when referring to Jenek.

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