Pandora Boxx

Early life

Michael Steck was born to Sharon Steck in Jamestown, New York. He has a sister, Susanne. The family later moved to Olean, New York. Steck graduated from Canandaigua Academy in 1991. Steck was inspired to do drag after watching the eventual season six contestant Darienne Lake perform at an outdoor festival in Rochester, New York. For his first show at the gay bar Infinity in Rochester, Steck chose his drag name as a play on words of Pandora's box, an artifact found in Greek mythology.

Career

In 2008, Boxx wrote, directed, produced, and appeared in Mrs. Kasha Davis: The Life of an International Housewife Celebrity, starring fellow drag performer from Rochester's Tilt nightclub, Mrs. Kasha Davis. She also wrote a play, The Lipstick Massacre, which was directed by David Henderson, starred Boxx and Mrs. Kasha Davis, and premiered in November 2009 in Rochester. The plot follows a commercial actress, Daphne Von Hausenpfeffer, a fading commercial actress who becomes the prime suspect when other actresses auditioning for the same roles begin to disappear.

Boxx auditioned twice before becoming a contestant on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, which aired in 2010. While on the show, she impersonated Carol Channing on "Snatch Game", a Match Game parody challenge. Performing well in the show's challenges, her failure to win one resulted in RuPaul calling her "the Susan Lucci of this competition." She was eliminated in the eighth episode, "Golden Gals". After her elimination, Entertainment Weekly called her their pick for "America's Next Drag Superstar". She was later voted the Miss Congeniality of her season.

After her elimination, Boxx appeared on the three seasons of the Drag Race spin-off series RuPaul's Drag U. She also appeared in a television commercial for Absolut Vodka that aired during the third season of Drag Race dressed as a Bloody Mary. In 2011, she hosted an episode of Logo's One Night Stand Up, a comedy special filmed live in the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Other performers included Bianca Del Rio, Hedda Lettuce, and Kelly Mantle. Later that year, Boxx appeared in an Entertainment Weekly photo spread along with Mimi Imfurst that featured Melissa McCarthy channeling Divine. In September 2011, Boxx released her first single "Cooter!"

Boxx and Sherry Vine released "Give Me All Your Muff", a parody of "Give Me All Your Luvin'" by Madonna in 2012. In addition, Boxx released several singles in 2012: a cover version of Samantha Fox's song "I Wanna Have Some Fun" and the original song "Nice Car! (Shame About Your Penis)". In 2012, Sharon Needles won the online voting to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, but revealed that she was not going to participate due to the fact she was the reigning winner of the fourth season. Needles also confirmed that Boxx was her replacement and would appear on the show. Boxx, along with team partner Mimi Imfurst, formed Team Mandora. They were the first two contestants eliminated on All Stars, placing 11th and 12th.

After appearing on All Stars 1, Boxx was featured as a playable character along with Manila Luzon and Yara Sofia for RuPaul's Drag Race: Dragopolis, a mobile video game. In 2013, Boxx began hosting Drag Center, a series of RuPaul's Drag Race recaps for NewNowNext. She also released a single with Adam Barta called "You Seemed Shady to Me", which appeared in the top 50 of the iTunes comedy single charts. She was one of thirty drag queens featured in Miley Cyrus's performance of her song "Dooo It!" at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.

In September 2018, Boxx released "Oops I Think I Pooped", a parody of Katy Perry's song "This Is How We Do". The music video featured fellow RuPaul's Drag Races contestants Alaska Thunderfuck, Jasmine Masters and Mariah Paris Balenciaga, as well as Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye. In May 2019, Boxx appeared on stage during Christine and the Queens' performance during the season 11 finale of RuPaul's Drag Race.

In May 2021, it was revealed that Pandora would be competing in the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars alongside 12 other contestants, including fellow season 2 contestant Kylie Sonique Love and fellow All Stars season 1 contestant Yara Sofia. She performed at the inaugural Jamestown LGBTQ Pride Festival in June 2021.

Personal life

Steck is gender-fluid. Steck became engaged to Ian Dinse on Christmas Day, 2010, making an announcement via Twitter. They married on April 24, 2022.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As featured artist

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

Music video appearances

Web series

References

References

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2. Rezsnyak, Eric. (26 January 2010). "PROFILE: Pandora Boxx". Rochester City Newspaper.
3. "Happy Mother's Day Mom! And of course I'm late. Lol. Love you!!". Meta, Inc..
4. Normal, Abby. (9 October 2011). "Pandora Boxx: From Little Michael to Cooter!". [[Yahoo! Voices]].
5. "Visual & Performing Arts Hall of Fame - Canandaigua City School District".
6. Holland, Scott. (10 September 2010). "Catching up with Pandora Boxx". [[Edge on the Net.
7. Steck, Michael. "''Mrs. Kasha Davis: The Life of an International Housewife Celebrity'' (2008)".
8. Rezsnyak, Eric. (November 11, 2009). "Theater Review: "Lipstick Massacre"". Roc hester City Newspaper.
9. (30 March 2010). "''RuPaul's Drag Race'': Old Man Drag Is the Most Dangerous Kind". [[Gawker]].
10. Hartinger, Brent. (7 April 2010). "Interview: Pandora Boxx Opens Up on Her "RuPaul's Drag Race" Elimination Controversy". [[AfterEllen.com and TheBacklot.com.
11. (9 April 2010). "The Bullseye: April 9, 2010". [[Entertainment Weekly]].
12. Elliott, Stuart. (18 January 2011). "Sponsorship of This Series Is No 'Drag'". [[The New York Times]].
13. Voss, Brandon. (14 January 2011). "Hot Sheet Big Love, Idol, Skins". [[The Advocate (LGBT magazine).
14. (21 October 2011). "NEW: Pandora Boxx & Mimi Imfurst Photo Shoot". [[Logo TV.
15. Spargo, Chris. (13 February 2012). "VIDEO: Pandora Boxx & Sherry Vine Parody Madonna". [[Logo TV.
16. Spargo, Chris. (21 June 2012). "Sharon Needles Explains Why She Won't Be On 'RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race'". [[Logo TV.
17. Morgan, Glennisha. (2013-04-24). "Dragopolis, 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Drag Queen Mobile Game, Set To Debut". Huffington Post.
18. Spargo, Chris. (July 23, 2013). "Pandora Boxx & Adam Barta Premiere New Music Video "You Seemed Shady To Me"".
19. Lamour, Joseph. "Meet All 30 Of Miley's Day-Glo Dancers From Her Insane VMA Performance".
20. Bote, Joshua. (September 24, 2018). "Pandora Boxx Lets it Rip With Alaska, Jasmine Masters and More in Epic Katy Perry Parody: Watch".
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27. (April 24, 2023). "I want to wish the happiest of birthdays to my love @ianboxx".
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32. (June 18, 2023). "Just wrapped on my first horror movie.".
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42. Fitzgerald, Christine. (March 23, 2023). "Adam Barta dishes about his new series #THEDISH". Socialitelife.
43. Loughlin, Ryan. (February 14, 2016). "America's Drag Stars (cross)dress to impress". Press of Atlantic City.
44. (2019-12-03). "Pandora Boxx talks Trump, her childhood career dreams and Drag Con". Gay Star News.
45. Del Mar, Pollo. (March 2, 2017). "Pandora Boxx Says 'Psycho The Musical' Could Soon Be Headed Off-Broadway". HuffPost.
46. Spargo, Chris. (25 October 2012). "XELLE's 'Queen' Music Video Features Every 'Drag Race' Queen: Watch". [[Logo TV.
47. Bendix, Trish. (2017-03-11). "20 Music Videos With Drag Queen Cameos".
48. Les Fabian Brathwaite. (June 30, 2015). "Hillary, Here's Your New Campaign Song — Courtesy of Adrian Anchondo & Pandora Boxx".
49. Garner, Glenn. (January 14, 2016). "WATCH: 'I F*cked Your Dad' Ft. Pandora Boxx".
50. Brown, Jonathan. (22 March 2017). "Todrick Hall Revisits 'Straight Outta Oz' With A Semi-Unnecessary Deluxe Edit". Inquisitr.
51. Crowley, Patrick. (June 26, 2018). "'Drag Race' Star Blair St. Clair Gets Introspective in 'Call My Life' Music Video: Watch". Billboard.com.
52. O'Hara, Eureka. (February 18, 2022). "''"Eureka O'Hara - WERQ! (Official Music Video)"''".
53. Asea, Adam. (March 2, 2014). "Watch Now: Pandora Boxx on Ring My Bell". WorldofWonder.net.
54. (April 21, 2015). "RuPaul's Drag Race {{!}} Drag Center with Pandora Boxx (Episode 8) {{!}} Season 7". [[RuPaul's Drag Race]].
55. (September 26, 2016). "Pandora Boxx LOOK AT HUH! On Season 2 of Hey Qween with Jonny McGovern {{!}} Hey Qween". Hey Qween.
56. (June 5, 2017). "Spilling the Tea: The Drag Queen Photo Shoot".
57. (January 20, 2019). "Pandora Boxx - Tails of the City: Pets 4 Pets Episode 3". WOWPresents.
58. Voss, Brandon. (April 20, 2019). "Pandora Boxx and Manila Luzon Have Thoughts About This Week's "RuPaul's Drag Race"". NewNowNext.com.
59. White, Brett. (May 6, 2020). "'Drag Race' Queens Get into 'Golden Girls' Drag for New WOW Presents Plus Pandemic Series [EXCLUSIVE]". Decider.com.
60. Rudolph, Christopher. (September 2, 2020). "Tammie Brown Is a Kick-Ass Action Star in "Queen With a Cause"". NewNowNext.
61. (August 5, 2021). "Whatcha Packin' {{!}} AS6 E08 {{!}} RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars". YouTube.
62. (August 9, 2021). "Pandora's All Stars 6 Looks 🤩 Ruvealing the Look {{!}} RuPaul's Drag Race AS6". YouTube.
63. (September 23, 2021). "SPOILER ALERT: Binge Queens - RuPaul's Drag Race UK Season 3, Episode 1". [[World of Wonder (company).
64. (February 17, 2023). "Drag Queen Responds to Right-Wing Hysteria (Pandora Boxx Interview)".
65. (April 9, 2023). "Pandora Boxx Confessions on A QUEEN WHO".
66. Moguls of Media. (2024-09-30). "Very Scary Delta #111 with Pandora Boxx: "Do You Love Shelley Duvall Like Me?"".