Jinkx Monsoon

Jinkx Monsoon
Monsoon at the 2013 Capital Pride in Washington, D.C.
Born	Jerick Hoffer (1987-09-18) September 18, 1987 (age 29) Portland, Oregon
Residence	Seattle, Washington US
Occupation	Singer, actor, drag performer, reality television personality
Known for	Winning RuPaul's Drag Race season 5
Predecessor	Sharon Needles
Successor	Bianca Del Rio

Jinkx Monsoon is the stage name of American drag performer Jerick Hoffer and winner of the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Jerick Hoffer was born in Portland, Oregon, the oldest of four children. Hoffer attended da Vinci Arts for middle school and graduated from Grant High School. Hoffer came out as gay in middle school. In a Facebook post about transphobia and the drag scene, Monsoon stated "I, myself do not identify as cis-gendered. I am genderless."[1] They first performed in drag at the age of 15 at the all-ages Escape Nightclub.

Hoffer was raised Catholic. When they were eighteen, they found Russian-Jewish ancestry on their mother's side. Their drag character, Jinkx, is characterized as Jewish. Hoffer also suffers from narcolepsy, a fact that they revealed in the season premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Hoffer worked as a janitor through college and graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in theater from Cornish College of the Arts in 2010. They have lived in Seattle, Washington since 2006.

After moving to Seattle from Portland, Hoffer and creative partner Nick Sahoyah wrote and starred in multiple Funny or Die webisodes titled Monsoon Season in which they played Jinkx Monsoon as an over-bearing, substance addled, near-psychotic mother to Nick Sahoya's character, Kamikaze Monsoon.

In 2011, Monsoon appeared in the Wes Hurley film Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel. On February 28, 2013, the first screening at Seattle's Central Cinema was hosted by Monsoon and Waxie Moon.

In January 2012, Hoffer appeared as Moritz in the rock musical Spring Awakening at the Balagan Theater in Seattle. Controversy arose from The Seattle Times review by Misha Berson, who said that Hoffer was "overly flamboyant" for the role.Dan Savage defended Hoffer's portrayal of Moritz. From July 21 to August 19, Hoffer starred as Angel in the 5th Avenue Theatre's production of the musical RENT.