Heklina

Heklina is an American drag queen performer and personality as well as the co-founder, hostess and promoter of San Francisco's alternative drag show Trannyshack known for cutting edge drag and performance art. "Defying all expectations, Trannyshack incorporates everything from low brow trash to high brow performance art, and has become famous (or, infamous) worldwide as the quintessential San Francisco experience."

Heklina is half-Icelandic and named herself after the Icelandic volcano Hekla. Heklina has been hosting Trannyshack since 1996 and it is the longest running drag show in San Francisco every Tuesday night at the gay venue The Stud. She also acts in local theater productions and emcees a variety of community and charitable events including the Folsom Street Fair (along with Sister Roma) and San Francisco Pride. She also co-produces and co-hosts the Miss Trannyshack Pageant widely considered the premiere annual drag event in San Francisco that has sold out every year since inception. Heklina has been seen on E! Entertainment Network, BBC Television and as a guest on Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake shows. She was voted Community Grand Marshal of the 2004 San Francisco GLBTQ Pride Parade. Heklina co-stars in a series of short films, the "Tran-ilogy of Terror", drag queen horror spoofs written and directed by long-time collaborator Peaches Christ.

I think that drag queens are still the eunuch clown that’s safe to laugh at. It’s definitively not shocking anymore. So I don't know if America’s really embraced it. The early 90s was when RuPaul and it was the first time any drag queen had mainstream exposure. I don’t really see a drag queen breaking out like that [again.]”

Filmography

 * Filthy Gorgeous: The Trannyshack Story (2005)
 * ''The House of Venus Show" (2006)
 * Spin the Bottle (2005)
 * Season of the Troll (2001)
 * A Nightmare on Castro Street (2002)
 * Whatever Happened to Peaches Christ? (2004)