Melissa McCarthy Based Her Performance Of Ursula On Drag Queens, In Fact She Used To Be One
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Long before Melissa McCarthy was Ursula in The Little Mermaid or the funniest part of any movie she’s in (Spy, underrated!), she was an aspiring actor working as a drag queen in '90s New York. No, really.
Even more impressive, her long-lost days in drag have come full circle as the actor has picked the art form back up once again for her turn as the deliciously villainous sea witch.
"I have always been, since my teens, a huge fan of drag," McCarthy told Out Magazine earlier this week. "I think it's an unbelievable art form, and I couldn't separate that from Ursula."
McCarthy was such a fan of drag growing up that performing in drag was one of her first jobs in the entertainment industry. She notably detailed her history as a '90s-era New York drag queen in a 2017 Rolling Stone cover story.
In 1990, McCarthy was living in Hell’s Kitchen with her childhood friend Brian Atwood (who’d later become a famed shoe designer). While trying to make it as a stand-up comic, McCarthy performed in full drag.
“It was me there with my lovely gay guy friends and I was dressed like a big old drag queen. I went by Miss Y,” she told the publication. “I had a gold lamé swing coat on, a huge wig, big eyelashes. I talked about being incredibly wealthy and beautiful and living extravagantly, and the first night worked great. It was such a happy, good feeling, and it gave me such confidence.”
Atwood, who referred to McCarthy by the nickname Missy in the Rolling Stone profile, said the actor even attended the famed Wigstock drag festival in full drag.
“It was the time of Lady Miss Kier, RuPaul, and Lady Bunny, and Miss Y was Missy’s great alter ego,” he told the publication. “When we went to Wigstock at Tompkins Square Park, Miss Y was at her prime there. Full-on. That was her time. It was hilarious.”
Sadly, McCarthy's days as Missy Y were short-lived. She told Rolling Stone heckling from crowds while performing became too much.
“I was dressed as this character, but any time a woman is in good shape, and I was, you would walk up and it’d be like, ‘Show us your tits!’ And I was like, ‘What?!?’ And, so fuck that and fuck you," she said.
Thankfully, her drag background is all the more relevant — and honestly kismet — again as she credits drag queens with inspiring her portrayal of Ursula.
"I always go back to Divine," she told Out, while also mentioning Varla Jean Merman, another legendary queen, as an influence for her performance. Divine was reportedly an inspiration for Ursula in the original animated movie, so this all makes sense.
It’s also cosmically timed as McCarthy once dressed as Divine (in her famed red Pink Flamingos look) for Entertainment Weekly in 2011.
