American drag performer Hera Lilith Hoffer, best known by her stage name Jinkx Monsoon was BOTD in 1987. Born in Portland, Oregon, she was raised by a single mother, and began performing in drag aged 15, taking the name Heidi Destruction. After graduating from the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, she began appearing in the web series Funny or Die as the overbearing drug-addicted Jewish mother Jinkx Monsoon. (Her name is drawn from the Yiddish word “jinx”, in tribute to her Jewish ancestry, and Edina Monsoon from the TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous). In 2011, she was the subject of Alex Berry’s self-produced web documentary Death Becomes Him, chronicling Monsoon’s life on and offstage. She rose to celebrity in 2013 as the winner of the fifth season of TV drag competition RuPaul‘s Drag Race, impressing judges with her comedic timing and impersonations of queer icons Judy Garland and Edith Bouvier Beale. A successful career followed, with appearances in regional productions of the musicals Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Hairspray, an international tour of the cabaret musical The Vaudevillians, and the release of two music albums. Her television appearances include The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Special with regular collaborator BenDeLaCreme, Clea DuVall‘s queer Christmas film Happiest Season, and the sci-fi series Doctor Who as the villain Maestro. In 2022, she competed in RuRaul’s Drag Race All Stars, winning the title of “Queen of All Queens”. She made her Broadway debut in 2023, playing Mama Morton in the musical Chicago, followed by a successful run as Audrey in a revival of Little Shop of Horrors. In 2025, she returned to Broadway to play Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola‘s satirical play Oh, Mary! Monsoon identifies as trans-femme non-binary and pansexual and uses she/her pronouns. She married her partner Michael Abbott in 2021, separating in 2023. Her current relationship status is unknown.