Octavia St. Laurent
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Octavia Saint Laurent Mizrahi
Octavia St. Laurent | |
|---|---|
 St. Laurent in Paris Is Burning, c. 1990 | |
| Born | March 16, 1964 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | May 17, 2009 (aged 45)[1] |
| Other names | Heavenly Angel Octavia Saint Laurent Manolo Blahnik Octavia Saint Laurent Mizrahi |
| Years active | 1982–2009 |
Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi (March 16, 1964 – May 17, 2009) was an American model and AIDS educator who was active in New York City's Black and Latino ballroom community and Harlem's luxurious balls.[3][4] She came to public attention after being featured in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning.[5]
St. Laurent began walking in the New York City ballroom scene in 1982, with "Swept Away" by Diana Ross as her favorite accompanying music.[4] She rose to prominence with the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning[6] and had a small role in 1993's The Saint of Fort Washington.[7] She was the central character in the short documentary Queen of the Underground (1993, directed by Adam Soch), in which she criticized "big-time celebrities that go around in their cars picking up transvestites, having sex with them, and then getting on TV and making fun of them"--making an explicit reference to Eddie Murphy.[6]
In 2006, she starred in Wolfgang Busch's How Do I Look,[8] dubbed as "the sequel to Paris is Burning", and was using the name Heavenly Angel Octavia St Laurent Manolo Blahnik.[4]
Personal life
St. Laurent was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 16, 1964. Early in her life, St. Laurent identified as a trans woman, but later identified as intersex and said she had been that since birth.[2] St. Laurent said that growing up, her parents were accepting:[2] "I had wonderful parents that supported me. My sexuality was not an issue with my parents. They were accustomed to that since I was a child. People thought I looked like a little girl, and my mother said: 'This is a boy!'"[4] She said she experienced police harassment and was arrested on several occasions for wearing gender-nonconforming clothing in public.[4]
St. Laurent was diagnosed as HIV positive, and later helped spread awareness about the disease. During her appearance in Wolfgang Busch's LGBT documentary How Do I Look, St. Laurent further discussed her drug use, sex work, and fight with AIDS.[9] In 2000 she delivered a eulogy after the murder of Amanda Milan, at Metropolitan Community Church.[10]
In 2008, St. Laurent was diagnosed with cancer. She moved in with her sister while receiving treatment and started a one-person show at Spirits gay bar in Syracuse, New York, which she described as a quiet place for respite. St. Laurent gave a final interview by phone in March 2009[4] and died after a long battle with cancer on May 17, 2009, in Syracuse, New York, aged 45. St. Laurent is buried in a cemetery in Queens, New York.[2]
Acknowledgements
St. Laurent's appearance in Paris Is Burning was cited in Judith Butler's book Bodies That Matter in "Gender is Burning".[11]
