Erica Andrews
| Erica Andrews | |
|---|---|
Erica Andrews at the Tribeca Film Festival, 2010
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|
| Born |
Eddie Salazar September 30, 1969 Allende, Nuevo León, Mexico |
| Died | March 11, 2013 (aged 43) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Cause of death | Complications from lung infection |
| Nationality | Mexican, American |
| Other names | Erica Hutton, Erica Hutton Andrews |
| Occupation | Actor, drag performer, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1988–2013 |
| Known for | Drag performance, beauty pageant winner, stage and film performance |
| Home town | San Antonio, Texas, United States |
Erica Salazar (September 30, 1969 – March 11, 2013), better known by the stage name Erica Andrews, was a Mexican international and national beauty pageant title winner, drag performer, actor, entrepreneur, and activist.
Erica Andrews was born Eddie Salazar on September 30, 1969 in Allende, Nuevo León, Mexico.
She grew up on a small ranch called Los Aguirres in the rural outskirts of Allende, where there was little electricity. She changed her name to Erica, a name she derived from a phonetic pronunciation of Eddie. She attached a colloquial ca to the end of Eddie so that it sounded like Eddieca and formed the name Erica. Consequently, she became Erica Salazar. Beginning around 1989–1990, she took on the stage name Erica Hutton. She named herself after Lauren Hutton, whom she admired. After she met Tandi Andrews, who became her drag mother and mentor, she changed her stage name to Erica Hutton Andrews and subsequently to Erica Andrews.
Andrews was born into a family with two older brothers and a younger sister. During her childhood, her father was sentenced to ten years in prison for a drug offense. Andrews spent her childhood in Allende through the age of 8, when her mother and siblings crossed the border and settled in Laredo, Texas. Though Andrews maintained a relationship with her mother and siblings, she became estranged from her father and never saw him again. Upon leaving home, Andrews attended college for two years, earning an associate degree. She attended cosmetology school and became a licensed cosmetologist. She began to work as a make-up artist and consultant at department store makeup counters for MAC Cosmetics and also for Glamour Shots.
In an interview with Ambiente Magazine in 2005, Andrews recalled a difficult childhood. She described being referred to as a little girl instead of a little boy by a guest speaker at her elementary school and being laughed at by the students. She also remembered in high school returning home from a volleyball game and being taunted by two guys who threw her down, kicked dirt on her, and punched her a couple of times. On the Tyra Banks Show as well as in an online radio interview with Richard Curtin, Andrews discussed a time when she was about 17 when she ran away from home and struggled because of the challenges she faced as a trans woman. She began her estrogen hormone replacement therapy when she was 18. She had undergone silicone and electrolysis treatment. Andrews said she had never had any plastic surgery on her face or body.
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