Rent Live's Valentina Talks About Coming Out as Non-Binary

Valentina will be playing the role of Angel Dumott Schunard in Rent Live and she’s ready to take the world by storm!

The 27-year-old entertainer competed on the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2017 and then appeared on the All-Stars season last year.

Valentina, whose real name is James Leyva, is opening up about coming out as non-binary and realizing that she’s not fully male or female.

“Being in drag for so many hours of my day and for so long in my career now, I’ve been wondering: How much do I identify with the femininity of being a woman and how much is put on?” Valentina told Entertainment Weekly. “My coming out as non-binary has been, in context, connected to Angel because I want people to know and understand that Angel is such a beautiful human being…. I hope that through this, people can see what it means to fully be free and to identify freely as yourself — especially when you have the level of community around you to support your truth.”

Angel in Rent, originated on Broadway by Wilson Jermaine Heredia, is also a drag performer.

“Drag helped me be fully aware of my authentic self. When I’m not in full drag, I have shaved eyebrows, a full manicure, and I sit with my legs crossed; those things explain my femininity, but it’s also a part of how comfortable and how feminine I feel inside,” Valentina added. “There’s a shift between how masculine and how feminine I feel that I don’t really feel the need to define if I am male or female, because I feel like both at the same…. Non-binary means you don’t have to be either or.”