‘Canada’s Drag Race’: Who Is Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman?
Over the past decade, RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a global phenomenon bringing one of the world’s most underrated art forms to mainstream television. Regional spinoffs, including Drag Race Thailand, The Switch Drag Race in Chile, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, have increased the show’s international reach. And the new Canadian edition, currently airing on Crave in Canada and streaming on WOWPresents Plus, has captured fans’ attention with some of the greatest queens from the Great White North.
Similar to Drag Race Thailand, Canada’s Drag Race doesn’t have a traditional singular host. Instead, three main judges balance hosting duties as they coach the queens through the challenges. And a guest co-host joins them every week to shake things up. As the main judges, model Stacey McKenzie and RPDR runner-up Brooke Lynn Hytes work together like a well-oiled machine with actor Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman.
Who is Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman?
Prior to Canada’s Drag Race, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman maintained a relatively low profile as an actor. Born in 1984 in Edmonton, Canada, he described the experience of growing up in the “predominantly Caucasian” town of Rimbey as a biracial gay man as “a sick social experiment.” He began his modeling career as a teenager in Vancouver and eventually crossed over into acting in his early 20s. After the release of his first movie, I Know What I Saw, Bowyer-Chapman picked up and moved to New York City. It was there that he began to build his career as an actor.
What has Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman appeared in?
Slowly but surely, Bowyer-Chapman’s one-off TV and movie appearances began to turn into regular roles. He appeared on popular shows, such as The L Word and Warehouse 13, and even voiced Black Panther in the animated Marvel show Iron Man: Armored Adventures. He parlayed a guest spot as a server on Stargate SG-1 into a recurring role on Stargate Universe a few years later. And he landed his first series regular role as Jay Carter on the Lifetime drama Unreal in 2015. He then relocated to Los Angeles and used Unreal as a springboard into the mainstream.
How did Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman get involved in ‘Canada’s Drag Race’?
Bowyer-Chapman is no stranger to the Drag Race world. He’s frequently appeared as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. On the most recent season of All Stars, Bowyer-Chapman returned as the lucky bachelor on the Snatch Game of Love — Drag Race’s dating show take on its staple Snatch Game challenge. Funnily enough, this was his second time standing in as an object of drag queens’ affection. On a previous All Stars season, he was the one looking for a shot at love in the fictitious “The B*tchelor” dating show challenge.
Because Bowyer-Chapman had experience both behind and in front of the judging table with American Drag Race queens, he likely gained the necessary insight to be able to connect with competing queens both on a personal, advisory level and on a critiquing level. So when it came time to assemble a panel for the Canadian spinoff, Bowyer-Chapman was a natural choice.
