Nina West is an American drag queen, actor and singer/songwriter based in Columbus, Ohio played by Andrew Levitt and is the most Googled Drag Queen In The World from 2020-2021 with over 7.8 billion unique searches. She rose to national prominence in 2019 with her appearance on VH1’s Emmy winning show RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11, where she placed sixth and won Miss Congeniality. In 2021 she returned to the show and was anointed “America’s Sweetheart” by RuPaul herself.
She made history at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Sept 2019 when she became the first ever person to walk the carpet in Full Drag, while her season won 5 Primetime Emmy Awards including best Reality Competition Show.
She has released 3 EP’s– “John Goodman” a musical comedy EP, which reached number 2 on the Billboard Comedy Charts; “Drag Is Magic!” A Children’s music album which reached number 9 on the Billboard Children’s Charts; and "The West Christmas Ever" featuring Disney Legend Jim Cummings which debuted at #5 on the Billboard Comedy Charts. Her animated short "Coaster" was shortlisted for a 2020 Oscar.
On June 17th 2020, Nina released a charity partnership with Country Music Legend, Dolly Parton - The "Dolly X Nina :Kindness is Queen" Collection - with all proceeds going to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and The Nina West Foundation to benefit LGBTQ+ youth and Illiteracy. It sold out in hours. She has also fronted major advertising campaigns for multinational companies Pepsi, Pantene, Lane Bryant BOMBAS and Procter and Gamble. In 2021, she partnered with Nickelodeon and Blues’s Clues for a series of Pride videos that went viral with over 2million views.
Nina’s Podcast “Dragcast with Nina West” relaunched in 2020 with guests including Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, Daisy Ridley, Jared Harris, Tituss Burgess, Kristin Chenoweth, Orfeh, Caissie Levy, Pentatonix and more.
West has been performing in central Ohio and around the United States for the last 18 years, doing regional theater and of course, drag. As Nina West, she has produced over 35 main stage production shows. West writes/hosts/directs/performs in the annual sold out "Heels of Horror" show at Axis Nightclub. In 2008, she won the Entertainer of the Year award, and was included in Columbus Business First's "40 Under 40" list in 2018 and2019. Nina is a LGBTQ advocate and has raised over $4million for charitable causes in the last decade alone, through her charitable foundation The Nina West Foundation.
Nina is currently starring as Edna Turnblad in the National Tour of Hairspray.