Who plays Maestro in Doctor Who?

The first two episodes of Doctor Who season 14, with Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, were released on May 12, and rather than the Doctor himself, everyone is talking about one character—Maestro. They’re one hell of a villain, but where have you seen that face before?

It seems that no matter where you look currently, you simply can’t avoid the face of Maestro. The musically talented villain is the undeniable star of The Devil’s Chord, the most recent episode of this season of Doctor Who so far, and they’re actually a pretty familiar face to some people. 

In the show, Maestro is hell-bent on their mission to rid the world of music and keep it for themselves, but in real life, the actor who plays them is as opposed to this idea as it gets. 

Jinkx Monsoon is an American drag queen, singer, songwriter, actress and comedian. It’s safe to say that she’s got a serious amount of talent and is noted for her ability to perform off-the-cuff impersonations of celebrities. To date, she has released two studio albums (The Inevitable Album in 2014 and The Ginger Snapped in 2018), so if anyone was perfect for the role of Maestro, it would be her. 

However, familiarity with Jinkx is more likely to come from her roles on television. While she doesn’t have an extensive acting career behind her, she was one of the featured drag queens on season five of Ru Paul’s Drag Race back in 2013, winning the season. She came back to the show in 2022, when she took part in season seven of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All Stars, going on to win that too and earning the title “The Queen of Queens”. 

She did have some acting under her belt before becoming the star of The Devil’s Chord. She voice acted in an episode of Steven Universe, playing the main antagonist of the episode “ Lars of the Stars”, Emerald. She was also in an episode of Blue Bloods, playing Tallulah, as well as providing her voice as Normulon and Lemongrab in the gender-swapping Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.