Courtney Act

Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality.

In 1987, they entered a competition, Tiny Tots, which was a charity pageant show for children, and won.

At a young age, Jenek began attending The Fame Talent School where they became close friends with twins Lisa Origliasso and Jessica Origliasso, who would later become The Veronicas.

The group would perform together for twelve years, performing acts such as pantomime in local shopping centres such as the Strathpine Centre, the Toombul Shopping Centre, and Westfield Chermside.

Jenek found school difficult due to bullying over their sexuality.

They began to think something was wrong with them during their teenage years.

They attended Nashville Primary School in Brighton, but their parents wanted then to go to private school for their secondary studies, so they transferred to St Paul's Anglican School in Bald Hills a year early to "acclimatise".

Jenek heavily disliked the school, and moved to Sandgate District State High School after two years at St. Paul's. After school, they would frequently go clubbing with their friends in Brisbane, particularly on Mary Street.

Jenek received high grades at school and they were going to study medicine to become a doctor instead of an entertainer.

They first attended the Stonewall Club in the mid-90s and Jenek states that was the start of their "big queer life".

While touring colleges, they visited the National Institute of Dramatic Art, and, instead of moving forward to Perth to tour the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, they spent a week in Sydney behind their parents’ backs "living a lifetime of gay".

Jenek's drag queen career began in 2002 when they met Sydney drag queen Vanity Faire.

They were intrigued by the visual feminine illusion Faire would create once they were in drag and this inspired them to begin their drag career.

While deciding their drag name, they originally intended to take the name "Ginger Le'Bon" and be a "redheaded, smoky voiced nightclub singer", but, instead, they decided upon the stage name Courtney Act as, in a non-rhotic accent like the Australian accent, the phrase "caught in the act" is heard.

Courtney has stated that in 2002, when she began performing in drag, one had to "fight" and "earn" one's place as a drag queen.

She entered the Diva Rising Star competition in 2002 and won.

Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of Australian Idol in 2003.

After the show, she signed to BMG Australia (now Sony Music Australia), and she released her debut single, "Rub Me Wrong", which peaked at No. 29 on the ARIA Singles Chart and eventually gained a gold certification.

While auditioning for Australian Idol, she also became the first LGBTQ contestant to openly appear on a reality TV talent show.

In 2003, while working as a waiter at Jimmy's on the Mall, a restaurant in Brisbane, Courtney auditioned for the inaugural season of Australian Idol.

They first appeared as Jenek, but the judges, Ian Dickson, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden, told Jenek that his voice was "just not up to it".

The following day, Jenek returned to audition but as Courtney Act.

Hines said that Courtney was "great".

Dickson said, "Shane only didn't just cut it. You've added another dimension and this time you've blown us away."

Courtney continued through the competition and reached the live finals.

In the first TV vote Courtney did not advance; however, the judges brought her back as a wildcard.

In 2014, Courtney was one of the runners-up in season six of RuPaul's Drag Race.

In 2014, Courtney returned to recording music and released the extended play Kaleidoscope (2015), which included the title-track which was the official song for the 2016 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Courtney began performing in drag girl-group, The AAA Girls, released several singles and embarked on the North American, Access All Areas Tour (2015).

In January 2018, Courtney appeared on season 21 of Celebrity Big Brother UK and ultimately won the series with 49.43% of the final public vote.

She began branching into a hosting career, hosting The Bi Life, the UK's first bisexual reality dating show, on E! and her own television special, The Courtney Act Show.

Courtney released "Fight for Love" in late 2018 for the Eurovision - Australia Decides final; she finished in fourth place.

In 2019, Courtney competed and was runner-up on season 16 of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, where she was paired with Joshua Keefe.

This made Courtney and Keefe the first same-sex pairing in the history of the Australian version, as well as the second same-sex pairing on any version of the show.

Courtney/Jenek uses the pronoun she when referring to Courtney and he when referring to Jenek.

In 2022, it was announced that Act would be a judge on the ITV reality competition series, Queens for the Night.

Shane Gilberto Jenek was born in Brisbane, Australia, and moved to Sydney at age 18.

He was born to Gill and Annette Jenek and they have an older sister named Kim.

Their mother is of Danish descent and their father is of German descent, and the two of them both once worked in Kings Cross and befriended cabaret performer and TV personality Carlotta.

Growing up, Jenek would always dress up and sing and dance, but couldn't identify with anything that was portrayed in the media.