Alaska Thunderfuck

Justin Andrew Honard (born March 6, 1985), best known by the stage name Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 or mononymously as Alaska, is an American drag queen and singer from Erie, Pennsylvania. She is best known as the runner-up on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the winner of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

Alaska co-hosts the web series Bro'Laska alongside her brother, Corey Binney. Her first studio album, Anus, was released in 2015, followed by her second album, Poundcake, in 2016, and her third album, Vagina, in 2019. Her fourth album, Red 4 Filth, was released in 2022. Alaska is also a part of The AAA Girls, a drag group with Willam and Courtney Act and hosts the podcast Race Chaser with Willam.

Early life

Honard was born to Andrew and Pam Honard, and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fort LeBoeuf High School in 2003. Honard has a brother, Cory. He studied theater at the University of Pittsburgh.

Career

2007–2012: Career beginnings

After dabbling around in Pittsburgh, Honard eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. After discovering that he disliked the process of trying to land acting jobs, he conceived the concept and personality of her drag persona while smoking marijuana. Honard had previously done drag as a hobby, but the conception of "Alaska" fueled an intent to turn it into a career, and she eventually landed a job at the West Hollywood club Fubar. Honard frequently performed as Alaska in the Trannyshack shows in Los Angeles. In 2009, she performed in Palm Springs Gay Pride with Tammie Brown and Jer Ber Jones.

Alaska met future boyfriend Sharon Needles (stage name of Aaron Coady) through Myspace via an introduction from Pittsburgh drag queen Veruca la'Piranha in December 2009, and eventually moved back to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to live with him in 2010. She has said that she found Sharon Needles "fascinating", and, even after their breakup, "still does". Along with Sharon Needles and Cherri Baum, she formed the band Haus of Haunt, which later evolved into a drag troupe based out of Pittsburgh bar The Blue Moon. As part of the Haus of Haunt, she helped present the Pittsburgh debut of fellow drag queen and recording artist Christeene Vale in 2013. Alaska later impersonated Vale for the music video "RuPaulogize" by Willam Belli. The couple had friction between them after Sharon Needles' casting on season four of Drag Race, as Alaska had auditioned for every season of the show previous, and Sharon Needles had been cast on her first attempt at auditioning. Sharon Needles later went on to win the season in April 2012, beating fellow finalists Chad Michaels and Phi Phi O'Hara.

2013–2015: RuPaul's Drag Race and Anus

Alaska competed on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, under the mononym Alaska instead of her full drag name Alaska Thunderfuck. She had previously auditioned for every season of the show, and filmed her audition tape for the fifth season while on a cruise paid for by Sharon Needles' Drag Race winnings. She prepared for the season with the help of Baum, la'Piranha, and New York City-based drag queen Miles De Niro. Sharon Needles was not present for the preparation, as she was touring at the time. Alaska won the fragrance commercial-themed main challenge in the episode "Scent of a Drag Queen" and the main challenge for "Sugar Ball". As part of the show, Alaska sang on the "We Are the World"-inspired song "Can I Get an Amen?". The song's proceeds helped benefit the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. At the season finale in May 2013, Alaska was declared the runner-up along with fellow competitor Roxxxy Andrews. Jinkx Monsoon was the winner of the season. Due to her substantial gain in wealth after Drag Race and subsequent ability to purchase the item, she later fell into a cocaine addiction, which Alaska has described as "kinda ugly, gross, and kinda sad".

In October 2013, Alaska performed as Dr. Frank N. Furter in Woodlawn Theatre's production of The Rocky Horror Show in San Antonio, Texas. RuPaul's Drag Race judge Michelle Visage and season four contestant Willam Belli also starred in the musical.

Since appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race, Alaska has toured and performed, appearing in RuPaul's Drag Race Battle of the Seasons shows, the Drag Stars at Sea cruises, custom one-woman shows such as a Stevie Nicks tribute called "Stevie Forever", a cabaret show called "Red for Filth", and a holiday show called "Blue Christmas". An animated version of Alaska appeared in the "RuPaul's Drag Race: Dragopolis 2.0" mobile app. During the summer of 2014, she starred in a stage production of Sex and the City. With her brother, Cory Binney, Alaska has a web series sponsored by World of Wonder, called Bro'Laska. In 2014, Alaska became a spokesmodel for American Apparel alongside Willam Belli and Courtney Act.

Alaska has since released a string of singles, namely "Ru Girl", "Your Makeup Is Terrible", and "Nails". In June 2015, Alaska's debut album, Anus, was released to positive reviews. Singles from the album included "Hieeee" and "This Is My Hair".

2016–2017: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and Poundcake

In 2016, Alaska returned to Drag Race for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. She won 4 challenges (Snatch Game, Acting, Stand Up, Advert) and was in the bottom for a makeover challenge. She received some backlash due to some of her choices of eliminations and her behavior toward the end of the competition. In response, Alaska donated $5,000 to the charity Trans Kids Purple Rainbow and posted an apology video online. In the final five of the competition, when she landed in the bottom, Alaska famously offered competitor Detox $10,000 to vote for her to stay in the competition, of which Alaska revealed years later that she donated the amount to a snake sanctuary instead. In the season finale, she was crowned the second winner of All Stars. Due to the stress sustained while filming the season, she has said that she preferred the experience she had while filming Season 5 of Drag Race over All Stars 2.

In the same year, Alaska released her second album, titled Poundcake. Three singles from the album have been released: "The T", "Stun", and "Puppet". The album is named after the puppet challenge on RuPaul's Drag Race where Alaska and fellow contestant Lineysha Sparx created a rebellious puppet called Lil' Poundcake. On the seventh episode of the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, the main challenge of the episode was for the contestants to act in a true crime spoof entitled "Forensic Queens: Wha-Ha-Happened to Lil' Poundcake?", depicting a fictional All Stars season where Lil' Poundcake, slated to make her Drag Race comeback, suddenly disappears.

Alaska competed in the first season of VH1's Scared Famous, which premiered on October 23, 2017, and placed 6th in the competition.

2018–2020: Race Chaser, Vagina, and pageant

Since 2018, Alaska has hosted the podcast Race Chaser with fellow Drag Race alumna Willam Belli. The podcast is "devoted to the discussion and dissection of every episode" of RuPaul's Drag Race. Alaska and Jeremy Mikush, performing as Alaska and Jeremy, released their debut album Amethyst Journey in 2018.

In 2019, Alaska released her third album titled Vagina. Soon after, she created and hosted The Drag Queen of the Year Pageant Competition Award Contest Competition at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. The event was sold-out and featured eight different drag artists competing for the crown. The eventual winner, decided by Alaska and a panel of judges including Peppermint, Sharon Needles, and Willam, was Abhora, a former contestant on season two of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula. The event has since been hosted annually by Alaska alongside Lola LeCroix, with a documentary series following the production of the 2022 edition, Behind the Drag Queen of the Year Pageant Competition Award Contest Competition, being released in 2023. In June 2023, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed Alaska seventh on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.

2021–present: Red 4 Filth and memoir

Alaska's first comedy special, The Alaska Thunderfuck Extra Special Comedy Special, aired on OutTV in Canada in 2021.

She released her memoir, My Name's Yours, What's Alaska?: A Memoir on November 9, 2021.

She is one of the most followed queens from Drag Race, and has accumulated over 1.8 million Instagram followers as of October 2021.

Public image and artistry

She has stated, "I am a huge fan of drag for many reasons; first and foremost being that it is an extremely important form of performance art. Drag uses humor as means of relaying a message, and because humor tends to get overlooked as a valid way to communicate through art, drag tends to get pigeonholed into being something 'less than' when you think about it in terms what you'd see at a museum. I can't think of almost anything more artistically redeeming than a huge museum full of drag queens, but maybe that's just me."

She has cited Gianni Versace, Lady Gaga and Marc Jacobs as her favorite fashion influences. Thought Catalog described her style as "risk-taking" and "creative", with "weird choices"; Yahoo! called her Lil Poundcake outfit a "pink nightmare" and "clownish crazy", and explained that "the drag and music world would certainly be very quiet without Ms Thunderfuck".

Alaska's drag name is derived from Alaskan Thunderfuck, a strain of cannabis. Alaska counts Divine and Marilyn Monroe as her role models.

Personal life

Alaska was in a relationship with fellow drag queen Sharon Needles for four years before separating in November 2013. She has stated that the pair had a drunken physical fight after a night of doing cocaine, and, later that same night, was said to have checked into a hotel with her belongings while wearing a fur coat stained with Sharon Needles' blood. Alaska has since jokingly compared the situation to Angela Bassett as Tina Turner requesting a hotel room in What's Love Got to Do with It. She has also cited her own affair with a man in Florida as a "symptom" and "one of the causes" of the fight. Alaska was originally angry over the circumstances of their breakup, but, after rekindling their relationship while on tour together, she has said that they are now "really good friends". Sharon Needles appeared in Alaska's music video for "Hieee" in 2015, two years after their breakup.

In June 2022, Honard's father was killed in a motorcycle crash. Honard wrote on social media that his father was "kind and loving and hilarious and had a beautiful heart, and had so much love for his family, his wife, my sister and me, and his grandchildren". He also wrote that he was "feeling a lot of pain and grief right now. I'm also feeling compassion for anyone who has ever lost someone they love".

Discography

Studio albums

Collaborative studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other appearances

Tours

• Access All Areas Tour (2017)
• An Evening with Alaska (2018)

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Theatre

Music videos

Podcasts

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Alaska Thunderfuck at IMDb