Peaches Queen, AKA Luke McCaul, is one of Ireland’s most fabulous exports.
Originally a Dublin-native from Santry, Peaches has made a home for herself in Sydney Australia, where she’s just been crowned Australia’s Best Drag Queen.
“Nine years ago, I emigrated from Ireland to Sydney, in the hopes of becoming a famous drag queen. And unfortunately – I don’t know whether you guys know, if you’ve ever been an immigrant to another country, you can’t get sponsor or get a visa to be a famous transvestite,” the sparkling queen said in her acceptance speech at the Australian Adult Industry Awards, “So I actually needed to work very hard for a very long time to get a visa to stay in this country.”
And all of that hard work paid off because the former Alternative Miss Ireland is the first non-Australian to be bestowed the honour.
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“Last night was just a dream!” she wrote on Instagram, captioning a photo of her with her diamond-shaped award. “I can’t thank you all enough for your love and support. To everyone that has helped me along the way Thank you”
Peaches’ new title follows her dazzling performance in the sweet short film, Look the Part, in which she plays the “inner Divia” of a shy young girl with Down Syndrome who longs to be a dancer.
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Peaches Queen tells GCN how she got involved with the production through her day job as a hairdresser. A client, Claire, was working on a script while getting her hair done and Peaches struck up a conversation, only to learn that Claire was in search of the perfect drag queen to play the co-lead role.
“Honey, today is your lucky day,” Peaches told Claire. “You have Peaches Queen, a former Alternative Miss Ireland and International Drag Queen Superstar, cutting your hair. Look no further, you have found your Inner Diva.”
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And the rest is Herstory! They went on to make the short, detailing the inspiring story of aspiring dancer Sam on her journey to find the confidence to follow her dreams.
Look the Part was made a pioneering, not-for-profit organisation called Bus Stop Films, dedicated to raising the profile of people living with disabilities and other marginalised groups, on both sides of the camera.
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“Staring in the film was an incredible and an educational experience for me,” Peaches tells us. “The film is devoted to the representation, both of people living with disability and the LQBTQ+ community. Working in this environment was very heart-warming.”
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