With its joyous exuberance, Netflix’s hit show feels like a close cousin to Emily in Glamorous Paris, but with one groundbreaking difference: It’s perhaps the most genuinely diverse TV show ever made.
Set in a glitzy New York office, it stars Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall as Madoline Addison, a former supermodel who now runs Madoline’s glamorous beauty empire. Cattrall, 66, is an inspired choice as the queen bee of a lively young group, one of whom boasts, ‘Titanic is the oldest movie I’ve ever seen – and I don’t know who Cher is.’
Even more interesting was that Netflix launched the show at the same time as the new series And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City spin-off starring Cattrall’s estranged former co-stars. Although she has a brief cameo in And Just Like That…, the grudge remains, so don’t expect her to reunite with Sarah Jessica Parker in real life anytime soon.
What’s it like to be in this revolutionary new show, which stars Miss Benny, who won acclaim as Cattrall’s hilariously gender-nonconforming assistant Marco Mejia?
There’s no better person to ask than Damian Terriquez, who plays Dizmal Failure, a popular drag queen who befriends Mejia.
With its joyous exuberance, Netflix’s hit show feels like a close cousin to Emily in Glamorous Paris. Damian Terrikage stars as Dismal Failure, a popular drag queen
Just four years ago, Mexican-American Terriquez, 25, was contemplating a life in marketing, studying international corporate structures in London. The pandemic put an end to that, and Terrikage moved to Hollywood to do odd jobs on film sets.
As a nonbinary actor, they were sure a big part would be a long time coming. Born in San Diego, California, Terryquez and his family moved to his mother’s hometown of Tijuana, Mexico, when he was young, but returned to California when he was in high school.
Today the Terrikages live just outside of Los Angeles with their fiancé, actor Luke Lowry, and their miniature schnauzers Nadia and Nala.
Fittingly, the Terrycages kissed Ireland’s famous Blarney Stone while on holiday when they heard about auditions for Glamorous.
However, they tell me, ‘I was a trained dancer with an academic mindset and not much acting experience. I thought, there’s no way I’m going to land a Netflix series with Kim Cattrall. But Luke encouraged me to go for it and here I am.
‘Glamourous came about a few months after I decided to act,’ adds Terricaz, ‘and there’s never been a better time to be someone like me – a non-binary Latinx. Two years ago you didn’t have two equally diverse people on a show. Everyone in the cast of Glamorous is a different facet of diversity. I’m hoping it will change the perception that a show can only have one role.’
Set in a glitzy New York office, it stars Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall as Madoline Addison, a former supermodel who now runs Madoline’s glamorous beauty empire.
Terrikage, who dressed in a navy rollneck, dark denim and pearls for our interview, says he grew up watching Sex and the City movies with his mother – they were ‘too young’ for the TV original – and admits Cattrall was scared at first. Meeting.
‘I was quiet, so I suspected he knew I was a little nervous around him, but in our scenes together he couldn’t be nicer, always asking how my day was going.’
In addition to being the star, Cattrall was also a show producer, and Terrikage said it was fascinating to watch him juggle both roles. ‘As soon as they said “cut”, he was quick to rewrite, saying, “I think this or that would make more sense”. It was always a long day on set but having to work after the cameras were off was something I hadn’t seen before. It was an inspiring process.’
Cattrall didn’t get along with the younger actors, who surprisingly had great fun on set together. ‘It was like summer camp. There was this board-game cafe in Toronto where we hung out and it was always somebody’s birthday, so there was a lot of celebrating.’
Filming on the show began last year in the Canadian city, which also used a New York-like look in the suites and huge glamorous offices were a big set.
‘I’ve never worked on something so carefully constructed,’ says Terrikage.
While Sex and the City legendary costume designer Patricia Field created Cattrall’s costumes – the pair remain friends despite other outcomes – the rest of the cast was dressed by film and TV costume designer Nancy Gould. For one scene she dressed Terrycage in a pink catsuit with sequin platform boots – a look they’ll never forget: ‘My heels came off and I embarrassingly fell out of my trailer!’
It’s perfectly valid to watch a fun show to help you disconnect from the world
Along with the gorgeous costumes, the show also introduced Terrikage in make-up.
‘I used to do soft eyes sometimes, but now I’m having fun with make-up at all these red-carpet events. I like Tom Ford, which was used in the show, and more affordable brands like Clinique. When I’m ready to do something I put glitter around my eyes and powder my beard.’
Speaking of the second series of Glamorous, at the moment Terrikage is busy planning his wedding with Lori, which will take place in Mexico next year so that 450 of their relatives can attend. The couple, Terrikage says, met online ‘as people my age do… When I watch romcoms I think it’s very new. I thought, “Oh, wow, that’s so cute – they met in person! How did they know they liked each other?”‘
On off-screen life, Terrikage said: ‘I enjoy silence. I am trying to live up to my fantasy of being an aristocratic English country lady. I’ve taken up knitting and gardening and I have dogs.’
They also have their eye on Emily, a Netflix stablemate in Paris. ‘There’s this idea that everything has to be legacy-level intense, but a fun event to disconnect from the world is perfectly valid. Emily was great in Paris – I speak French and have a marketing degree, so come on!’
A new co-star for Lily Collins?
Glamorous is now available to watch on Netflix
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