American drag performer, DJ and nightclub promoter The Lady Bunny was BOTD in 1962. Born Jon Ingle in Wilmington, North Carolina to a middle-class family, she grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was educated at private schools in England. She returned to the United States, studying at the University of Tennessee and Georgia State University, working part-time as a go-go dancer for a rock band alongside her friend RuPaul. After dominating Atlanta’s gay scene, they moved together to New York City in 1983. At RuPaul’s encouragement, Bunny began performing in drag at the Pyramid Club, combining lip synch, dance and stand-up comedy. In 1985, she and drag queen friends Wendy Wild and Scott Lifshutz co-founded Wigstock, a drag festival that became a Labour Day event in New York City for over 20 years, featuring performances by RuPaul and Lypsinka and chronicled in the 1995 documentary Wigstock: The Movie. She became close friends with club promoter Michael Alig, appearing in his club nights for nearly a decade until his murder conviction in 1997. She is credited for popularising drag for mainstream audiences, extending its reach into cabaret performances and art installations. She has also modelled for fashion designer Rick Owens, and made appearances in independent films including Party Girl, Another Gay Movie and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and the TV series Sex and the City and RuPaul’s Drag U. A popular DJ and nightclub promoter, she revived the Wigstock drag festival in 2018 with Neil Patrick Harris and David Burkta, an experience chronicled in the 2019 documentary Wig. She incited controversy in 2024 after criticising Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris for being insufficiently progressive and “a vessel for corporate interests”. She lives alone in New York City, without lovers or pets, explaining in a recent New York Times interview “I’m not relationship oriented”. Still performing in her 60s, she DJs every week at a gay club in Greenwich Village.