Candis Cayne

Candis Cayne; (August 29, 1971) is an American actress and performance artist.

Known in the New York City nightclub scene since the 1990s, Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC's prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The role makes Cayne the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in primetime.

Early life

Cayne and her fraternal twin, Dylan McDaniel, were born in 1971 on Maui, Hawaii. Their parents taught at a Waldorf school, and the family lived on campus. She graduated from Maui's Baldwin High School in 1989 and then spent a year in Los Angeles, where she trained as a dancer.

Career

Cayne then moved to New York in the early 1990s, making a name for herself as a choreographer and drag performer. Unaware of what a transsexual was until she lived in New York, about three years after her arrival Cayne realized that the term described how she felt about herself. Already performing as "Candis Cayne" at New York gay bar Boy Bar and as a featured performer at Tour in New York's Chelsea, the entertainer also participated in Wigstock, the annual drag festival in Manhattan's East Village. In 1995 Cayne appeared in the related documentary film Wigstock: The Movie, the comedy-drama film Stonewall, and the Universal Studios comedy feature film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, for which she also did choreography.

Michael Venus

Michael Venus may refer to:

Michael Venus (entertainer)

Michael Venus is a Canadian artist, actor and producer.

Born October 9, 1973 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, Venus moved to Windsor, Ontario at the age of 18 where he began working in the arts community of Windsor and nearby Detroit. There, with friends, he formed the artist collective "House of Venus" and began putting on various art shows, club nights and other events including an annual wearable art and wig festival called "Wiggle" which continues to this day. In 1995 he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where he worked as an artist and event producer for 18 years.

In the mid 90's Michael also began work as his drag alter ego Miss Cotton who is House Mother and leading "Venus Girl" Cotton has done numerous stage and television work including legendary NYC Outdoor Drag Festival, "Wigstock" in 1999, starring in The New Pornographer's music video for "Sing Me Spanish Techno"and hostessing and curating the pre-show for the Official 2010 International Olympic Committee afterparty introducing INXS. In the year 2000 Michael started the Icons and Demigods photo series where he collaborates with photographers recreating "POP" and "subculture images that shaped his aesthetic. In 2003 the first 17 images were exhibited at 1.6 Gallery in Venus Rising which was also the spotlight piece on Fashion Television the following year. In 2010 Venus put together another show and catalogue featuring 50 works in the series. Michael also poduced short super 8 experimental films he shot through the late 1990's in Vancouver called "Supa 8". In 2012 he revisiting the series and is working on another eight. In 2009 Michael created many different Andy Warhol wigs for Douglas Coupland's "Mum and Dad" exhibit. In 2012 for Toronto Nuit Blanche Michael co-starred, cast and styled Coupland's "Museum of The Rapture".

Michael Venus (tennis)

Michael Venus (born 16 October 1987) is a New Zealand tennis player. He reached a career high ranking of 274 in July 2011. He switched nationality in June 2010 and began playing in the New Zealand Davis Cup team.

Early years

His family moved to the United States, where he started to compete in the boys' league and won the Boys’ 18 National Clay Courts in 2006. His idols were Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. He was vacillating between going to college or turning professional and trying the senior tour but decided to go for the College Conference.

College years to professional career

He transferred to Louisiana State University from the University of Texas after his freshman year and had to sit out the 2006-2007 season under NCAA guidelines. In his very first year at Louisiana State University, Venus became the first LSU player to win the ITA Men’s All-American Championship at the national tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma in January 2008. He is also one of only two Louisianan college players to finish in the top ten of the Campbell's ITA College Tennis Rankings in both singles and doubles in the same year (No. 7 in singles and No. 4 in doubles respectively), which he accomplished in his final season in 2008-2009. He was a representative of the United States team in the BNP Paribas International University Challenge of Tennis in Poitiers, France in December 2009.