Biography
Bermondsey born indie artist Jeff Kristian made his TV debut in 1970 at the age of six playing the young Charlie Chaplin in a Tommy Steele BBC special. He is an actor, writer, songwriter, recording artist, producer and performance artist, probably best know in recent years on stage, in TV and film impersonating females.
Regional theatre roles through the 1970's included The Monkey's Paw, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Oh! What A Lovely War, Macbeth and Jesus Christ Superstar. Through the 1980's he fronted live bands, including Dooyah! which performed at The 100 Club, Dingwalls, The Rock Garden, The Cliffs Pavilion and many more. After a season in The Palace of Varieties for The British Music Hall Society, he created and starred in his one-man review The Kinky Hanky Panky Show. His 1990's creation The Diva Show won him a Boyz Magazine Reader's Poll Award for Best Drag Queen. The Jeff Kristian Show at Molly Moggs Theatre Bar in London ran from 2001-16, to date the longest running drag cabaret show in Soho's history. He performed in his live-singing show at some of the best known drag cabaret venues in London, including The Two Brewers, The Black Cap, Brief Encounter and Madame JoJo's, with his own residential weekly shows at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern and The Father Redcap. Jeff returned to immersive theatre in November 2019 for a ninety-nine performance run of Storytime With Santa in Kent.
Jeff's songwriting and recording career began in the heart of Basildon's 1982 music scene, considered the birthplace of British electronic ambient synth-pop and launch pad of Depeche Mode, The Assembly, Yazoo, Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet. Influences can be heard on Jeff's 1984 debut solo single Pierrot and its album Circus. He has continued recording and songwriting for himself and others ever since. In 2000, Maltese Eurovision star Chaira Siracusa's album What You Want featuring four of Jeff's songs made number one in Europe for seven weeks. His songs have been recorded by Lee Mark Jones (Gypsy Lee Pistolero), Sophia Disgrace, Grace Keegan, Joshua Takacs, Chris Repps, Tiffaney Wells, Berry Lane and Dooyah! He headlined at Ronnie Scotts in London for the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
in 2015, he composed the song You're There to raise awareness for British registered charity Cancer Is A Drag, of which he is patron. He was one of many performers on the 2018 fundraising single Love is the Only Law for the Albert Kennedy Trust, marking the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. In 2020, Jeff composed a new track A Place For Me to Call My Home for the Rise & Thrive Project, whose aim is to completely end homelessness in Ireland by 2024.
His starring role in the 2004 movie Snow White: My Confidential Drawers, was acclaimed at the Mexican Film Festival. He also starred in the Gsus Lopez short Ephemeral Nature, which won the Grand Prix ASVOFF Barcelona Award for Best Picture in 2012. It has since appeared at The Berlin Film Festival, The Museum of Contemporary Art and The Vivid Festival in Australian. His second Lopez film It Melts won Best Fashion Film at Charleston Fashion Week 2014. His third Lopez movie Out has won numerous awards and appeared at over forty-five festivals worldwide. Other movie roles include Alexander Kaufmann's Trouble on Earth which premiered at Cannes, Eme Guitron's Little Red Riding Hood: Uncensored, Omar Ismail's A Reasonably Good Bloke, Kate Coe's Baker Street Live, James Crow's Nightmare on 34th Street and Last Village on the Right, and Wonderland written and directed by Joshua Baylis. He appeared in Romy Sancto-Alford's 2010 film Molly Moggs, was a featured artist in Lenard Pink's 2016 documovie and TV series I'm Still Queer. He was also interviewed for Aro Korol's Battle of Soho in 2017.
Jeff wrote the songs and music for the Selene Kapsaski horror feature Spidarlings released 2016, of which he is also co-producer. He made an appearance singing three of his own songs in character as The Diva. His songs also feature in the films Snow White: My Confidential Drawers, Out, Baker Street Live and Be London, as well as the forthcoming Artemis of the Wildland, Films Confiscated from a French Brothel and Nightmare on 34th Street. He composed music for the US TV shows London Calling and Xandermonium.
Jeff has written features and articles for several publications, including a serial column for Pink Wire Magazine from 2010-15 called Adventures Of A Drag Queen, the stories from which were compiled as a book published Autumn 2019. He starred as Lettie and Billy-no-nut in the radio pilot of his debut 2012 comedy novel Where D'Ya Put Yer Willy? Its sequel Where's Yer Willy Now? was published July 2019.
As a model, Jeff has been exhibited in photographic portrait by Isabelle Sierra-Gomez, John Barlow, Robert Goldstein, Daniel Lilley and Brian Sturgess, including at London's National Gallery and Whitfield Fine Art Gallery. His portrait in oils and paint has been created by Stephen B Whatley, Alvar Alcalde Vega, Fran Dibuja and Pink Lynn.
Jeff was famously co-owner of London bars Attitude, Brief Encounter and Molly Moggs. In 1995 Attitude won Capital Gay awards for Best Pub and Best New Pub/Club. In 2009, Molly Moggs won the Pink Paper Readers Poll Award for Best Bar Or Pub and in 2011 the Boyz Magazine Reader's Poll Awards for Best Venue For Cabaret & Comedy, as well as Best Bar Night Or Event for its participation in Soho Pink Sunday.
Jeff was a regular cast member on Channel 5's Big Brother's Bit on the Side 2012 and Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side 2012 and 2013. He was anchor and presenter on US television series London Calling from 2015 to 2016. He has also appeared in commercials for Eurostar and The Alzheimer's Society. From Jan-Aug 2016, he was a co-host on the radio chat show XRad Daily with Xander Gibb.
Jeff has been an advocate for vegetarianism, veganism and animal rights for over thirty years. In 2021 celebrates fifty years in show business.
