Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, singer-songwriter, DJ, and entrepreneur originally from Marinette County, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, 1960s-influenced style, distinctive eye makeup, and musical repertoire that blends comedy with acoustic pop and folk-country music, with skills in guitar and the autoharp. In 2015, she competed in the seventh season of the drag reality television competition series RuPaul's Drag Race and returned to win the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Mattel has also made guest appearances in various iterations of the Drag Race franchise, additionally appearing as a judge on the spinoff series Queen of the Universe (2021–2023).
Mattel formed the popular comedy duo known as Trixie and Katya alongside fellow drag queen and frequent collaborator Katya Zamolodchikova. Together, they starred in the World of Wonder web series UNHhhh (2016–2023) and its Viceland spin-off The Trixie & Katya Show (2017–2018). The pair also host the Netflix review web series I Like to Watch (2019–present) and the podcast The Bald and the Beautiful (2020–present).
Mattel's music style began as primarily folk and country, with her first and second studio albums, Two Birds (2017) and One Stone (2018), both charting on the Billboard Folk Albums chart at No. 16. She went on to star in the documentary film Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts (2019). Her third studio album, Barbara (2020), featured an "electro-folk" sound, while her fourth studio album, The Blonde & Pink Albums (2022), was a double album featuring a "power pop" sound. Her musical comedy special, Trixie Mattel: One Night Only (2020), was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award. She also produced and starred in the renovation docuseries Trixie Motel (2022–2024), which chronicled the opening of her own Palm Springs resort of the same name.
Co-published with Zamolodchikova, Mattel's first book, Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood (2020), became a New York Times bestseller. She appeared on New York Magazine's list of "The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America", ranking fourth. She also operates a YouTube channel focused on beauty, featuring frequent collaborations with fellow drag queens and various celebrities such as Iggy Azalea, Nicole Byer, Brittany Broski, Rebecca Black and Margaret Cho. Mattel's business ventures include being the founder, sole owner and CEO of Trixie Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand launched in 2019. Her persona is inspired by her love of Barbie dolls; she owns a large collection of Barbies that she has shared in videos on her YouTube channel.
Life and career 19892014: Early life and career beginnings Brian Michael Firkus was born on August 23, 1989, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in Marinette County, Wisconsin. Firkus is Ojibwe; his maternal grandmother was a member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He had an abusive stepfather who would call him a "Trixie" when he acted feminine, which later inspired his drag name. His last name was inspired by his affinity for the Barbie doll and toy company Mattel. Before deciding on "Trixie Mattel" as his drag name, he originally considered the name Cupcake. He moved in with his grandparents at age 15, after his stepfather threatened him with a gun to the head. His grandfather was a country musician who taught him how to play the guitar.
After graduating from high school, Firkus studied at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (where Max Malanaphy, another season 7 contestant, attended and worked with Firkus) where he received a BFA in musical theatre and was introduced to drag while attending a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Oriental Theatre. He first performed in drag at LaCage NiteClub in Milwaukee, becoming a regular performer in Milwaukee's drag scene. Firkus would perform with fellow drag queens Kim Chi and Shea Couleé in Milwaukee and occasionally in Chicago. He attended beauty school in 2014 before withdrawing to participate in RuPaul's Drag Race. Outside of drag, he worked in cosmetics, freelancing at Sephora and working at Ulta and MAC.
20152017: RuPaul's Drag Race, UNHhhh, Two Birds, and The Trixie & Katya Show Mattel first gained widespread attention as a competitor on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2015). She was initially eliminated in episode four but later re-entered the competition in episode eight by winning the "Conjoined Twins" challenge with Pearl Liaison. Mattel was eliminated again in episode 10, ultimately placing sixth overall and becoming the first queen to last more than one episode after returning to the competition. Mattel, who is of Ojibwe descent, was the third Native American queen to compete on Drag Race. After her run on the show, Mattel performed her stand-up comedy tour, Ages 3 and Up, from 2015 to 2017.
In October 2015, Mattel guest-starred in a special edition of WOWPresents' Fashion Photo RuView with fellow seventh season contestant Katya Zamolodchikova. World of Wonder later launched UNHhhh, a comedy web series featuring the duo. The series became the most successful show on the WOW Presents YouTube channel and earned them their first Streamy Award nomination for Show of the Year at the 7th Streamy Awards. In November 2016, Mattel had a guest appearance as herself on American Horror Story: Roanoke. She self-released her debut studio album Two Birds on May 2, 2017. The album debuted at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, number 6 on the Independent Albums chart, and number 16 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. In December 2017, Mattel released Homemade Christmas, an EP of three recorded Christmas songs that featured Zamolodchikova.
In October 2017, it was announced that UNHhhh would end after its second season. Shortly after, a television spin-off of UNHhhh for Viceland called The Trixie and Katya Show premiered. The show ran until March 2018. Midway through the season, Zamolodchikova suffered a mental health crisis triggered by a relapse into addiction, which caused her to be replaced by Bob the Drag Queen for the remainder of the season. Mattel and Zamolodchikova reunited in October 2018 for a third season of UNHhhh.
In November 2017, Mattel and Zamolodchikova starred in a drag stage adaptation of the 1997 cult film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, titled Trixie and Katya's High School Reunion. Also in November 2017, Mattel produced a video for GQ Magazine called Trixie Mattel Makes a PB&J (and More Importantly, a Cocktail), earning a nomination from the James Beard Foundation Awards in the humor category.
20182020: All Stars, One Stone, and Moving Parts
Mattel later returned to the Drag Race franchise for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, which started airing on January 25, 2018. On March 15, 2018, her fellow competitors voted for her to advance to the final two, where she ultimately won against runner-up Kennedy Davenport in the final lipsync battle. She became the first winner of Drag Race to be of Indigenous descent. In December 2018, she competed in the television special RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular and won in a tie with the other competitors.
On February 3, 2018, Mattel released an acoustic version of her song "Moving Parts," which is also the name of her documentary, as a tease for her upcoming album. It became her first charting single, peaking at number 83 on the Scottish Single Chart. She released her second studio album, One Stone, on March 15, 2018, the same night as the All Stars finale. The album peaked at number 16 on the Folk Albums chart, number 10 on the Independent albums chart, and number 1 on the Heatseekers chart, becoming Mattel's first album to reach the top spot on a Billboard chart. In April 2018, she launched her new comedy world tour Now with Moving Parts, followed by the Super Bowl Cut tour later that same year. A documentary film titled Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2019 and screened until May 2019. It documents Mattel as she embarks on her "Moving Parts" tour following her All Stars win, as well as her personal struggles. The documentary was made available on Video On Demand platforms on December 3, 2019. An accompanying acoustic soundtrack was released later in December. Mattel's first comedy special, Trixie Mattel: Skinny Legend, aired on OutTV in Canada on September 26, 2019.
In a September 2018 interview with Billboard, she announced that she was working on her third studio album, Barbara, featuring an "electro-folk" sound. "Yellow Cloud" was released as the first single from the album on May 17, 2019, though it did not make the final cut. "Malibu" was released as the official first single on January 24, 2020, and the album was released a week later through Producer Entertainment Group and ATO Records. The album received a GLAAD Media Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist.
In January 2019, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched the fourth season of UNHhhh. In June 2019, Mattel was one of 37 drag queens featured on the cover of New York magazine. The magazine ranked America's 100 most powerful drag queens and placed Mattel at number 4.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, filming of the fifth season of UNHhhh was put on hold. In its place, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched Trixie and Katya Save the World, a spin-off filmed from their homes. Mattel also took the time to start building her YouTube channel, which previously featured make-up tutorials and music videos. She expanded the channel to include content reflecting her pastime as a toy collector, with videos reviewing new Barbie collections, discussing doll history, or baking with Easy-Bake Ovens. Mattel and Zamolodchikova resumed filming the fifth season of UNHhhh later in 2020 and launched their podcast The Bald and the Beautiful. On July 14, 2020, Mattel and Zamolodchikova released Trixie and Katya's Guide to Modern Womanhood, an affectionate parody of women's self-help books. The book was a New York Times best-seller.
In September 2020, Mattel released a cover of Lana Del Rey's "Video Games", which ranked 66 on the Scottish singles chart and 89 on the UK Downloads chart. In December 2020, Mattel and Zamolodchikova co-hosted the 10th Streamy Awards in Los Angeles. In the same ceremony, the duo was nominated for Show of the Year and Unscripted Series for UNHhhh, winning the latter category.
2021present: Full Coverage, Vol. 1, The Blonde & Pink Albums, Trixie Motel, and Working Girls
In February 2021, Mattel released a cover of the Violent Femmes track "Blister in the Sun." She also announced the EP Full Coverage, Vol. 1, which included both singles "Video Games" and "Blister in the Sun," as well as a cover of "Jackson" with Orville Peck. The EP was released on April 30, 2021.
In May 2021, Mattel announced that she would star in Trixie Motel, a reality series on Discovery+. The series would follow Mattel, her (at the time) partner David, and "famous" friends as they renovated a motel in Palm Springs. The renovations began in the fall of 2021, and the series premiered on June 3, 2022.
In August 2021, Mattel and Zamolodchikova launched their newsletter Gooped, which includes light-hearted advice. In November 2021, Mattel announced "The Trixie Doll," a collectible fashion doll in her likeness, in collaboration with Integrity Toys.
In September 2021, Producer Entertainment Group debuted a vodka line in collaboration with the Mexican distillery Casa Maestri. The line, titled Serv Vodka, consists of six flavors each inspired by a drag queen on the PEG roster: pink lemonade (Mattel); pineapple (Manila Luzon); mixed berries (Trinity the Tuck); blood orange (Sharon Needles); green apple (Monét X Change); and original unflavored (Alaska Thunderfuck 5000).