Pandora Boxx

Michael Steck (born May 2, 1972), better known by the stage name Pandora Boxx, is an American drag queen, comedian, reality television personality, and singer. Hailing from Rochester, New York, Boxx competed in the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, placing fifth and winning the title of Miss Congeniality, and subsequently returned for the first and sixth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Boxx also appeared in all three seasons of the Drag Race spin-off series RuPaul's Drag U. Outside of reality television, Pandora Boxx has released several singles and performed in film, television, and theater.

Early life Michael Steck was born to Sharon Steck in Jamestown, New York. He has a sister, Susanne. The family later moved to Olean, New York. Steck graduated from Canandaigua Academy in 1991. Steck was inspired to do drag after watching the eventual season six contestant Darienne Lake perform at an outdoor festival in Rochester, New York. For his first show at the gay bar Infinity in Rochester, Steck chose his drag name as a play on words of Pandora's box, an artifact found in Greek mythology.

Career In 2008, Boxx wrote, directed, produced, and appeared in Mrs. Kasha Davis: The Life of an International Housewife Celebrity, starring fellow drag performer from Rochester's Tilt nightclub, Mrs. Kasha Davis. She also wrote a play, The Lipstick Massacre, which was directed by David Henderson, starred Boxx and Mrs. Kasha Davis, and premiered in November 2009 in Rochester. The plot follows a commercial actress, Daphne Von Hausenpfeffer, a fading commercial actress who becomes the prime suspect when other actresses auditioning for the same roles begin to disappear.

Boxx auditioned twice before becoming a contestant on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, which aired in 2010. While on the show, she impersonated Carol Channing on "Snatch Game", a Match Game parody challenge. Performing well in the show's challenges, her failure to win one resulted in RuPaul calling her "the Susan Lucci of this competition." She was eliminated in the eighth episode, "Golden Gals". After her elimination, Entertainment Weekly called her their pick for "America's Next Drag Superstar". She was later voted the Miss Congeniality of her season.

After her elimination, Boxx appeared on the three seasons of the Drag Race spin-off series RuPaul's Drag U. She also appeared in a television commercial for Absolut Vodka that aired during the third season of Drag Race dressed as a Bloody Mary. In 2011, she hosted an episode of Logo's One Night Stand Up, a comedy special filmed live in the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Other performers included Bianca Del Rio, Hedda Lettuce, and Kelly Mantle. Later that year, Boxx appeared in an Entertainment Weekly photo spread along with Mimi Imfurst that featured Melissa McCarthy channeling Divine. In September 2011, Boxx released her first single "Cooter!"

Boxx and Sherry Vine released "Give Me All Your Muff", a parody of "Give Me All Your Luvin'" by Madonna in 2012. In addition, Boxx released several singles in 2012: a cover version of Samantha Fox's song "I Wanna Have Some Fun" and the original song "Nice Car! (Shame About Your Penis)". In 2012, Sharon Needles won the online voting to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, but revealed that she was not going to participate due to the fact she was the reigning winner of the fourth season. Needles also confirmed that Boxx was her replacement and would appear on the show. Boxx, along with team partner Mimi Imfurst, formed Team Mandora. They were the first two contestants eliminated on All Stars, placing 11th and 12th.

After appearing on All Stars 1, Boxx was featured as a playable character along with Manila Luzon and Yara Sofia for RuPaul's Drag Race: Dragopolis, a mobile video game. In 2013, Boxx began hosting Drag Center, a series of RuPaul's Drag Race recaps for NewNowNext. She also released a single with Adam Barta called "You Seemed Shady to Me", which appeared in the top 50 of the iTunes comedy single charts. She was one of thirty drag queens featured in Miley Cyrus's performance of her song "Dooo It!" at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.

In September 2018, Boxx released "Oops I Think I Pooped", a parody of Katy Perry's song "This Is How We Do". The music video featured fellow RuPaul's Drag Races contestants Alaska Thunderfuck, Jasmine Masters and Mariah Paris Balenciaga, as well as Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye. In May 2019, Boxx appeared on stage during Christine and the Queens' performance during the season 11 finale of RuPaul's Drag Race.

In May 2021, it was revealed that Pandora would be competing in the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars alongside 12 other contestants, including fellow season 2 contestant Kylie Sonique Love and fellow All Stars season 1 contestant Yara Sofia. She performed at the inaugural Jamestown LGBTQ Pride Festival in June 2021.

Personal life Steck is gender-fluid. Steck became engaged to Ian Dinse on Christmas Day, 2010, making an announcement via Twitter. They married on April 24, 2022.

Discography Albums +List of studio albums, with release date and label shown Title Details Boxx Released: July 16, 2024 Label: Pandorable Formats: Streaming, digital download

Singles Title Year Album "Cooter!" 2011 rowspan="9" "I Wanna Have Some Fun" 2012 "Nice Car! (Shame About Your Penis)" "You Seemed Shady to Me" "Different" 2014 "Unicorn" 2015 "Oops I Think I Pooped" 2018 "Ridiculous" 2021 "Cooter: The Ballad" 2024

As featured artist Title Year Album "Show Up Queen" 2021

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2008 A Voice from the Lantern Marvelous Marvin Short film 2008 Mrs. Kasha Davis: The Life of an International Housewife Celebrity Delores Matterhatter Short film; director and writer 2013 X Confident Iris Short film 2020 Workhouse Queen Herself Documentary2021The Bitch Who Stole ChristmasTownsfolk #3TBDMEATMabel Bergmann

Television Year Title Role Notes 1997 Ricki Lake Herself Episode: "Get A Grip, Doll...You're Too Fat To Be A Drag Queen"2003Boys Will Be GirlsHerselfVH1 Documentary 2010 RuPaul's Drag Race Herself Contestant (5th Place) 2010, 2012 RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked Herself 2010–12 RuPaul's Drag U Herself 2010 Jeffery & Cole Casserole Season 2, Episode 5: "The Teen Moms" 2010 The Real Housewives of Atlanta Guest Season 3, Episode 3: "White Hot" 2011 One Night Stand Up Herself Episode 10: Dragtastic NYC2012 Are You There, Chelsea? Tiffany Episode 8: "Dee Dee's Pillow" RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars Herself Contestant (11th/12th Place) 2013 She's Living for This Herself Season 2, Episode 12014People You KnowAdora JarrEpisode: "Moving On"2017Talk Show The Game ShowHerselfContestant2018Some Kind of WonderfulMrs. Betty / DannyPilot RuPaul's Drag Race Herself (Guest) Season 10, Episode 12020AJ and the QueenHerselfGuest appearance2021RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 6) HerselfContestant (6th Place) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked Herself2023#TheDishHerselfTubi exclusive

Theater Year Title Role Theatre 2016 America's Drag Stars Herself Borgata Music Box 2017 Psycho: The Musical Parody Lila Crane San Francisco's Oasis Nightclub

Music video appearances Year Song Director 2012"Queen" (Xelle) JC Cassis 2013"Ru Girl" (Alaska Thunderfuck) Carly Usdin 2014"Ransom" (MOXXI) Kavan the Kid & Nova Rockafeller2015"Not A Pearl" (Willam) Kain O'Keeffe2015"The Hillary Song"(Adrian Anchondo)Adrian Anchondo2016"I Fucked Your Dad" (Kevin Yee ft. Pandora Boxx)Unknown2017"Expensive" (Deluxe Edition) (Todrick Hall) Todrick Hall & Matthew Macar2018"Call My Life" (Blair St. Clair)Shawn Adeli & Brad Hammer 2022 "Werq!" (Eureka O'Hara) Brad Hammer

References

External links

Pandora Boxx

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