- James Palacio
James Palacio (aka Fiona St. James) is aNew York City -based female impersonator andactor who played Fiona Zonioni, the cross-dressing inmate on theHBO television series "Oz", from season two until the show's sixth and final season.citation |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2003_Feb_18/ai_97726499 |title=Prisoners of love |periodical=The Advocate |date=February 18 ,2003 |first=Lawrence |last=Ferber |accessdate=2007-11-09 ] citation |url=http://www.planetout.com/entertainment/news/splash.html?sernum=354 |title=Gaywatch: Lockup is a drag -- the queen of "Oz" tells all |first=Christine |last=Champagne |date=February 19 ,2003 |accessdate=2007-11-09 |periodical=PlanetOut ]Other television credits include "
Sex and the City ", "Law & Order ", "New York Undercover " andMike Nichols 's "Angels in America " for HBO. Palacio's film credits include minor roles inJoel Schumacher ’s "Flawless",Martin Scorsese ’s "Bringing Out the Dead ",Spike Lee ’s "Summer of Sam ", Beeban Kidron’s "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ", Susan Siedelman’s "The Dutchmaster" and Nigel Finch's "Stonewall". InAustralia , the image of his "blonde bombshell" character adorned "Stonewall" movie posters.citation |url=http://www.morethanawomanthefilm.com/pages/cast.htm |title=More Than A Woman: The Cast |accessdate=2007-11-09 ] citation |url=http://www.arenaproduction.com/female_impersonators.htm |title=Female Impersonators]Palacio, who is openly
gay , has modeled forGuess? , Goya,MTV and others. He danced in the show "Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!" and had a major role in the play "More Than A Woman".Regarding Palacio's role on "Oz", a writer for
PlanetOut described:James Palacio may not be the star of "Oz," but he plays one of the show's most colorful characters: Fiona, the prison's resident
Regarding his character's appearance on "Oz", Palacio said:transvestite and a member of the gay gang. While Fiona rarely has lines, she is one of a handful of inmates we regularly see on the series. An openlygay man, Palacio, who bills himself as an "actor/actress," has portrayed Fiona since the second season of HBO's gritty drama. He was cast because of his experience as an actor as well as a gender illusionist. Born and raised inthe Bronx , Palacio has performed in drag since the late '80s [...] In full drag, Palacio is a knockout who could easily pass as a woman, but the Fiona we see on "Oz" isn't quite so glamorous.The audience has to be able to look at Fiona and know she is really a guy [...] She is not a post-op tranny. If she were, she'd be in a women's prison [...] As it was described to me, my character is supposed to be this Puerto Rican cha-cha hooker queen.
Within theImperial Court System charitablenon-profit organization , Palacio uses "Fiona St. James" (formerly "Fiona James") as astage name andreign ed from March 2001 to March 2002 as Empress XV of New York. His appellation was "The Latina Empress of Decadance and Style". Palacio uses the name Fiona St. James in various professional capacities as well and is often credited as such.citation |title=ICNY: Emperor Damian Valentino and Empress Fiona St. James Step Down |accessdate=2007-11-09 |format=PDF |publisher=Imperial Court NY |url=http://www.imperialcourtny.org/circular/v07i02.pdf |date=February 2005]References
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