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D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce
★ Acting

D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce

Born 1981 · Paris, Texas, USA · Active 1988–2026

D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce, born in Paris, Texas, brings a vibrant energy to the screen, particularly in his role in Lavalantula (2015). Known for his dynamic presence in the drag community, Shangela's transition to film highlights his comedic timing and charisma. In Lavalantula, he adds a unique flavor to the cult film landscape, embodying the spirit of camp that defines the genre. His work not only entertains but also challenges traditional notions of performance in cinema.

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Lavalantula

Lavalantula

2015 ★ 5.0
as Neils Elman (uncredited)

A-List actor Colton West has an argument with Darren the film director, and storms off in his car. An earthquake hits, and Colton sees the Santa Monica Mountains erupt, spewing lava bombs all around him. A fire spitting spider the size of a man comes out of the car in front of him. Colton runs and drives out of the traffic back onto the main road to escape. Colton arrives home, and tells his wife Olivia about the giant spiders and tells her they need to leave. He takes the shotgun from his house and drives off in his car to find his son Wyatt. Meanwhile, Wyatt is out with his friends Jordan, Eli and Travis when they hear an explosion and see much smoke in the distance, and go to investigate. The teenagers find the source of the explosion to be a sink hole. Spiders come out of the hole spitting fire and start attacking people. Terrified, the teenagers flee to a warehouse, but Eli is caught by a spider and killed. Colton’s car is damaged when he hits a lava sink hole. He gets out and finds a tour bus full of people further up the road. He tricks the driver and steals the bus. As he is driving, a spider jumps onto the bus. He brakes heavily and the spider falls off the front of the bus, after which he runs it over. The front of the tour bus starts dissolving because of the spider's blood being acidic. Colton stops the bus and evacuates it just before it blows up. A spider comes down the chimney in Olivia’s house but she shoots it. The army starts moving into the city, and they rescue Olivia from her house. Colton gets a lift from his friend, Pirate Jack, a film stunt man. Jack’s car gets a puncture after hitting a lava vein in the road. Spiders come out of sink holes and chase them into a museum. They meet a scientist in the museum, who is researching the spiders and the volcano. He works out that the spiders were buried in the magma millions of years ago. Because the spiders became active, they are causing the volcanic eruptions, and that the only way to stop them is to kill the Queen spider. A spider gets in through a window in the warehouse where the teenagers are hiding and tries to attack them. Wyatt fights the spider with a fire extinguisher. The girl who was burnt earlier, has a fit and dies. Then loads of baby spiders crawl out of her as she catches fire. The baby spiders then attack Travis, setting him on fire and killing him. Wyatt runs to the roof of the warehouse where he gets a phone signal and texts his location to Colton. The spiders attack the army truck Olivia is in, she hides under a fire blanket as they breathe fire inside the truck. The soldiers all get killed and Olivia kills the spider and drives off in the army truck to try and find Colton. Meanwhile, the spiders break into the museum. Jack is killed, but Colton manages to escape. Olivia finds Colton and they drive off to rescue Wyatt. Wyatt climbs off the roof of the warehouse, and is attacked by a spider. Olivia and Colton arrive and run over the spider with the Army truck. Colton realizes that liquid nitrogen can be used to fight the spiders. They all go to the special effects store, where Colton finds his colleagues from the film set. Colton makes a plan to kill the queen spider with a liquid nitrogen bomb, made using items from the special effects store. He leaves with his film crew, to drop the bombs into the queen’s underground chamber. They plant the bombs around the chamber and detonate them. Many spiders come out of sinkholes to the surface. The film crew shoots them all down. Then, the giant queen spider comes to the surface. Colton uses a jet pack from the film set and flies off a building towards the queen spider. He drops a nitrogen bomb into the spider's mouth, killing it and saving the city.

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Career Highlights Top 6 by popularity · TMDB

Filmography

77 credits
2020s 10 credits
2026
Movie
2026
Magic Hour as Ricky
Movie
2022
Movie ★ 7.5
2022
Little Demon as Queen Inichoochiama (voice)
TV ★ 7.5
2022
TV ★ 5.6
2020
Movie ★ 10.0
2020
Katy Keene as Deveraux
TV ★ 8.1
2020
Lovecraft Country as Lena Horne
TV ★ 7.1
2020
We're Here as Self
TV ★ 5.4
2010s 41 credits
2019
Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts as Self (uncredited)
Movie ★ 6.8
2019
Movie
2019
TV ★ 3.5
2019
The Masked Singer as Self - Clue Giver
TV ★ 7.5
2019
TV ★ 7.0
2019
Tamron Hall as Self - Guest
TV ★ 4.7
2019
TV ★ 7.5
2018
Movie ★ 5.1
2018
Movie ★ 8.2
2018
A Star Is Born as Drag Bar Emcee
Movie ★ 7.5
2018
Movie ★ 5.2
2018
Follow Me as Self
TV
2018
TV ★ 8.0
2018
TV ★ 5.6
2018
Station 19 as Ruby Red Slippers
TV ★ 8.2
2016
Movie ★ 6.1
2016
Movie ★ 4.0
2016
Dragged as Himself
Movie
2016
Movie ★ 7.4
2015
Movie ★ 5.2
2015
Lavalantula as Neils Elman (uncredited)
Movie ★ 4.9
2015
Movie ★ 3.4
2015
TupiniQueens as Herself
Movie ★ 1.0
2014
Broad City as Waitress
TV ★ 7.1
2014
TV ★ 5.8
2014
TV ★ 1.7
2013
Movie
2013
Movie ★ 8.0
2013
R.I.P.D. as Drag Queen Avatar (uncredited)
Movie ★ 5.9
2013
Cinderoncé as The Fairy Dragmother
Movie ★ 8.0
2013
Movie
2013
Alyssa's Secret as Self - Guest
TV ★ 6.0
2013
Alyssa's Secret as Self - Guest (voice)
TV ★ 6.0
2012
TV
2012
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars as Self - Contestant
TV ★ 7.3
2011
2 Broke Girls as Hallelujah
TV ★ 7.2
2010
Detroit 1-8-7 as Drag Performer
TV ★ 6.5
2010
Terriers as Mikaela
TV ★ 8.0
2010
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked as Self - Contestant
TV ★ 6.0
2000s 12 credits
2009
The Panty Man as Young Poet
Movie ★ 1.0
2009
Community as Miss Urbana Champaign
TV ★ 8.0
2009
Glee as Shangela Laquifa Wadley
TV ★ 6.8
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race as Shangela Laquifa Wadley
TV ★ 7.5
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race as Self - Special Guest
TV ★ 7.5
2009
TV ★ 5.0
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race as Self - Audience Member
TV ★ 7.5
2009
RuPaul's Drag Race as Self - Contestant
TV ★ 7.5
2008
The Mentalist as Shangela
TV ★ 8.4
2005
Dancing with the Stars as Self - Contestant
TV ★ 6.1
2005
Bones as Kimmy Moore
TV ★ 8.2
2005
Dancing with the Stars as Self - Audience Member
TV ★ 6.1
1990s 3 credits
1998
GayVN Awards as Self - Host
TV
1998
TV
1993
The X-Files as Annabelle
TV ★ 8.4
1980s 1 credit
1988
TV ★ 5.6
Crew Credits
2020s 2 credits
2020
We're Here Consulting Producer
TV ★ 5.4
2020
We're Here Producer
TV ★ 5.4
2010s 8 credits
2019
Movie
2019
Movie
2019
Shangela Is Shook Executive Producer
Movie
2015
Movie ★ 3.4
2013
Movie
2013
Movie