Draft:Darlinda Just Darlinda

Darlinda Just Darlinda. (Born July 31, 1980) is an American performance artist, actor, burlesque dancer, and producer known for her innovative and boundary-pushing work in the world of neo-burlesque performance art based in New York City.

Early Life
Darlinda was born in Mendocino, CA. At a young age, Darlinda started taking dance, comedy improv, and acting classes. She was a California Arts Scholar and attended CSSSA in 1994. She graduated from Mendocino Community High School in 1998 and graduated cum laude from California State University Monterey Bay in 2003, with a Bachelor of Arts in Teledramatic Arts and Technology (now called Cinematic Arts and Technology .) She moved to New York City in the Fall of 2003, worked in various bars, restaurants, as an art model at School of Visual Arts and as a sex educator at Babeland until Spring 2011 when she became a fulltime freelance performing artist.

Film and Television
Darlinda is an active union member of the Screen Actors Guild. She has appeared in Boardwalk Empire, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Other F Word Series, Betty, These Thems , Accommodations , and BIZARRE the film.

Live Theater
In the Spring of 2003, Darlinda directed Hedwig and The Angry Inch for her senior capstone at California State University Monterey Bay. In 2009 she joined the cast of Taylor Mac's Obie Award Winning The Lily’s Revenge at HERE Art Center, as Bride Love. In 2012 she performed with Taylor Mac again at The 29th Annual Roots of American Music Festival at Lincoln Center. In 2016 she performed as a Dandy Minion in Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music at St Ann’s Warehouse. 2009-2018 she performed with The Cockettes alongside the late great Rumi Missabu, at Lincoln Center and Judson Memorial Church. In 2019 Darlinda danced in Machine Dazzle’s Treasure’s for The Guggenheim’s Works and Process. In 2024 she also performed in the acclaimed Club Shortbus, the immersive version of John Cameron Mitchel’s 2006 film Shortbus.

Burlesque
Darlinda began her professional burlesque performance career in February 2004 with the formation of the The Schlep Sisters. with Minnie Tonka, both of whom are featured in the 2017 Documentary Getting Naked and produced Menorah Horah for 15 years and the Burning Bush vs The Second Coming.

She continues to perform as a burlesque soloist in New York, performing at The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas, The Slipper Room, House of Yes, Coney Island USA , and Joe’s Pub.

Performance Art
2007-2008 she created Year in Rainbow inspired by Morty Diamond and Linda Mary Montano. Inspired by the 6 color rainbow, she wore one color every other month and in-between months she wore rainbow clothes. She did live performances inspired by each color of the month and at the end of the year she combined those performances and invited collaborators for The Year in Rainbow Finale at the now closed Zipper Factory

In 2018 she created the Untitled Rainbow Project directed by Peekaboo Pointe and Produced by Rachel Jordan Brown at Wild Project. In 2019 she wrote, performed, and produced One Woman Rainbow directed by Jenny Rocha at Joe’s Pub.

She repeated the Year in Rainbow Project August 2020-July 2021. Due to pandemic restrictions, instead of live shows she made 13 experimental videos and in May 2022 she produced Year in Rainbow LIVE at Joe’s Pub. She also appears in Rachel Rampleman's Life Is Drag at The Cell.