Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman is a Canadian actor and fashion model. He is known for appearances in films and television, most notably as Jay in the Lifetime dark comedy-drama series Unreal and as one of the main judges on Canada's Drag Race.
Early life
Bowyer-Chapman, whose last name is a hyphenate of his adoptive parents' last names, was born in 1984 in Edmonton, Alberta, and adopted when he was 12 days old. His biological younger brother is Cleyon Laing, defensive end for the Toronto Argonauts. His biological father is Jamaican. Bowyer-Chapman was raised, with one sister, in Rimbey, a small "predominantly Caucasian" town of less than 2000 people, which he says people in the area refer to as "the Texas of the north." According to Bowyer-Chapman, the region was "very much, like, oil and gas and farming and ranching" and growing up there as a biracialgay man was akin to "a sick social experiment." He was, in his own words, "exposed to a lot at a very young age and expected to be very adult in very bizarre situations." Bowyer-Chapman lived in Red Deer, Alberta, until his teenage years, at which point he moved to Vancouver, then began traveling as a model at age 15 throughout Europe, South Africa, and all across North America. He ended up in Vancouver again at age 21, which was when he began acting in television and film. He made his first movie, then moved to New York, living there for seven years before moving to Los Angelesin September 2016.
Career
Bowyer-Chapman began his modeling career at age 15 after friends and school teachers nudged him toward that career path. His first test shoot was in Calgary. He began making decent money at the job around age 18 or 19, shooting advertorials, catalogs, and campaigns for brand such as Levi's and American Apparel. He is represented by Wilhelmina Models. Alongside modeling, Bowyer-Chapman also began acting career, making his screen debut in gay-themed film Shock to the System. He was named one of "Five of the Best..." in Out magazine's 2007 feature article "Canada's Coolest" and was listed in Mwinda magazine's 2009 special issue "The 10 Most Beautiful Africans In Entertainment". He has modeled in many venues including USA, Canada, South Africa, and Europe and modeled in international campaigns for American Apparel and Levi's. He went to appear in the television series Noah's Arc and The L Word, and well as the film The Break-Up Artist. From 2009 to 2011, Bowyer-Chapman had a recurring role in the Syfy series, Stargate Universe. In 2012, he starred alongside Jussie Smollett in Patrik-Ian Polk's LGBT-themed romantic comedy-drama filmThe Skinny. In 2015, he began starring alongside Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby in the critically acclaimed Lifetime dark comedy-drama series Unreal, playing the role of Jay, a gay reality television producer. In 2016, Bowyer-Chapman appeared in the comedy filmDirty Grandpa. In 2018, Bowyer-Chapman joined the cast of the FX anthology seriesAmerican Horror Story for its eighth season, subtitled . In September 2019, he was announced as one of the three permanent judges on Canada's Drag Race, the Canadian version of RuPaul's Drag Race.
