At FAU’s 2018 drag show, Ariel Rimm opened with his own version of Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Elevated above the stage, he looked out at a packed auditorium that included friends, family and colleagues from the law firm where he worked.
“I’ll never forget how accomplished I felt that night,” he said in written responses to OutFAU.
For Ariel, the memory captures what drag has given him: a place to perform, a community to belong to and the confidence to embrace himself.
He began doing drag around 2009 or 2010 while pursuing his associate’s degree. A full-time college student who wasn’t doing much theater, he wanted a creative outlet.
“Drag was an outlet to take that back and create a space for the creative in me to live,” he said.
His name started with a childhood favorite, Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Ariel supplied the princess reference; Rimm supplied the punchline. He is particular about the spelling: two M’s.
His performances combine fashion and comedy, drawing on the pop culture he grew up with. The Spice Girls are a major influence, alongside figures such as Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
“I am fashion, and I’m also in on the joke,” he said.
FAU became part of his story after an earlier college plan proved too expensive. He started his bachelor’s degree at UCF but couldn’t afford to keep living in Orlando. Moving home, he applied to FAU’s theater program and found a department that eased his nerves about starting over.
“The theater department quickly erased all of those fears and created a home for me at FAU,” he said.
He first performed at the university’s drag show in spring 2011, before officially becoming an FAU student. He later earned his bachelor’s degree in theater, building a connection to the university that continued through years of performances.
Beyond the stage, Ariel describes a harder process of learning to accept himself. He felt that people treated his interest in drag as evidence that he was too effeminate or less credible as a man. Performing helped him reconcile the parts of himself that drew criticism with those audiences celebrated.
“Drag gave me the courage to love and understand every part of me,” he said.
He also describes losing work amid Florida’s political efforts to restrict drag. Ariel said his bookings had included university events, bars, restaurants and theaters, with opportunities ranging from lavender graduations to makeup demonstrations.
“Everything that I had built up in my career was gone within months,” he said, attributing those losses to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s policies affecting LGBTQ communities.
For an FAU student nervous about trying drag, his advice is direct: pursue what inspires you.
“I never want to wake up with regret,” he said. “Go after your dreams and do what inspires you.”
