1965 – Present El Daña

Years active

1965 – Present

Stage Name(s)

El Daña, Elsie Saldaña

Category

Male Impersonator, Drag King

Country of Origin

USA

Birth – Death

1944 –

Bio

El Daña is a Mexican-American male impersonator from Fresno, California who’s been performing since 1965. She has impersonated Julio Iglesias, Frank Sinatra, and her specialty, Tom Jones, to critical acclaim. El Daña is known not only for her stage performance but also for her deep commitment to uplifting the LGBTQ+ community as co-founder and emperor of the Sequoia Imperial Court of Visalia and Tulare. In 2024, she was honored with the Harvey Milk Community Leader Award from the city of Fresno. In 2025, El Daña was named the oldest living drag king in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Elsie Saldaña was born on October 15, 1944 in Riverside, California into a family of Mexican farmworkers. Her father was a part of the government-sponsored Bracero Program, which brought workers from Mexico to aid the American agricultural economy. When Elsie was five years old, her family moved to the Fresno area so her father could find more work. She was the oldest of seven kids and soon after moving, she’d help the family out by picking figs, cotton, and grapes. After working long hours in the fields she’d come home, flip on the radio, and lip-synch to Frank Sinatra or Vic Damone, pretending her hairbrush was a microphone.

Elsie knew she liked girls from the time she was in elementary school. When she was 16, she heard the word “lesbian” for the first time and couldn’t wait to go to her first gay bar. When she turned 21, Elsie stepped into Red Robin, one of the few Western gay bars in Fresno at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental disorder and laws prohibited cross-dressing. She was in awe of all the gay men and few lesbian women she saw – for a long time, she’d thought she was the only one.

Soon after, inspired by the performers on Red Robin’s stage, she decided it was time to bring her hairbrush act to the masses. Donning an all-black ensemble, Elsie gave the DJ a 45 record of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” and stepped on stage. Her knees shook at first but she quickly got into character and was met with roaring applause. This early success gave Elsie the confidence to continue honing her skills. She carefully studied the mannerisms, vocal stylings, and showmanship of male icons to emulate them on stage – Frank Sinatra, Bobby Rydell, Vic Damone, and Bobby Darin. For a long time Elsie was the only male impersonator in the area, performing in big stage productions alongside drag queens at The Girl of the Golden West or in solo shows at other gay bars such as the Red Lantern. (The first lesbian bar in Fresno, The Palace, didn’t open until the 1980s. Elsie performed there frequently.)

Hooked on entertaining, Elsie had ambitions beyond the Golden State. In 1970, she moved to Baltimore with her girlfriend. For the three years she lived there, she performed regularly at the city’s renowned gay nightclub The Hippopotamus. There, she met the famous female impersonator Charles Pierce. When he saw Elsie perform Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual,” he shook her hand and told her she was the best male impersonator he’d ever seen: “No one can do Tom Jones like you,” he told her. From that moment on, Tom Jones became one of Elsie’s favorites. She’d channel his chest-baring swagger with such verve that audience members would throw their bras and panties on stage.

Her impersonation inspired greater appreciation for these iconic male greats, especially amongst gay and lesbian audiences. It also was the catalyst for deeper community engagement. In 1980, Elsie was introduced to the Imperial Courts, one of the oldest and long standing LGBTQ+ organizations in the world, through the founder of the San Jose court who was also the godfather of her son. Shortly after, Elsie moved to the then rural town of Visalia where her mother lived and met the owner of the High Chaparral bar – Joe Victorino aka Tatiana.

Together, they founded the Sequoia Empire Court of Visalia and Tulare to encourage the rural gay and lesbian community to “become brave”. Elsie held the Emperor’s title three times. By day, she worked in manufacturing. By night, she hosted and performed in drag shows to raise thousands of dollars for AIDS and other charities despite fear and bigotry being the norm.

Through the Imperial Court, she would frequently drive up and down California in the 1980s performing at various hotels and bars, including Peanuts in Los Angeles, The Landing in San Jose, and Savoy in Santa Clara as one of few male impersonators.

Drawn to Julio Iglesias’ suave style, the crooner became another of Elsie’s specialties. It was also during this era that she conceived of her stage name, El Daña. To her ears, it just sounded better when the emcee announced her — “Ladies and gentleman, El Dañaaaaaa!”

El Daña eventually started her own production company but it wasn’t financially viable. By the late 1990s, drag couldn’t pay the bills. She had to clock in more hours at the factory to survive, and struggled being a king in a world dominated by queens. As she aged, she didn’t think anybody wanted to see her on stage anyway. El Daña took a break from drag for a decade, moving from Fresno to the Bay Area.

In 2017, El Daña returned to Fresno. She’d drive by the marquee at Fresno State’s massive arena, longing to see her name. She still had dreams. Around this time she met Kat Fobear, associate professor of Women’s Studies at Fresno State who was working on an oral history project of LGBTQ+ elders in the area. Kat invited El Daña to speak at one of her classes, and it was the spark she needed to step into drag again.

At Fresno State, El Daña organized the first drag fundraiser in 2022 to raise scholarship money for the college’s new LGBTQ+ minor. She gathered a group of drag kings and queens in a production style show, making sure to include trans performers. It was called ‘Fresno Queer West’ to honor the first gay and lesbian bars in the area. El Daña lip synched Glen Campell’s “Bonaparte’s Retreat” as well appeared in an ensemble performance of Roy Rogers’ “Happy Trails” to an audience of 400 people. At the finale, she and the other performers received a standing ovation.

Since then, El Daña has performed in various bars, festivals, and colleges – including UC Berkeley – and was the Grand Marshal for the 2024 Pride Visalia parade. Others have taken interest in her historical contribution to drag king history. Kat Fobear wrote a chapter about El Daña for the book, Iconic: Drag Celebrity and Queer Community edited by Nino Testa and Catherine Evans. In 2025, El Daña was named the oldest living drag king in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records.

While El Daña never achieved mainstream fame outside of the West Coast club scene, her pioneering status as one of the first Mexican-American male impersonators paved the way for greater inclusion and representation. Through courage and talent, she overcame societal barriers facing both women and people of color at the time. Her impersonations shattered norms and inspired future generations to pursue their passions boldly and unapologetically.

El Daña continues to be a role model. Constantly practicing lip synching in the car or at home, she’s always ready for the next performance opportunity. Her rhinestone and sequin outfits are neatly stacked in her closet and Boot Barn boxes keep her Stetson cowboy hats pristine. She still graces the stage – and the audience still throws bras. For El Daña, drag is life: “For as old as I am to do this, I feel I have it in me. And if I feel that I still have it in me, why should I stop?”

(Submitted by: Celeste Hamilton Dennis, Portland, OR)