Logo: CHRIS AMERICA as MADONNA
Image:
Liaonging Bihuali Biochemical Beauty Co., LTD wanted no one other than Chris America
to be our first official television spokesmodel to launch our new cosmetics campaign nationally
in China.We are very pleased with the results. Her dedicated work, professionalism
and realistic image as Madonna has added greatly to our campaign.We highly
recommend Chris America as an effective celebrity impersonator and actress.
Sincerely,
James Cheng
CEO
Liaonging Bihuali Biochemical Beauty Co., LTD
Sept 2009
Image:
Image:
August 2009: A fabulous trip to Bejing, China to film the launch of a new cosmetics line - "I-3".
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
As anyone who knows me knows my ultimate dream job is to be a hostess on QVC or HSN
selling a product that I have invented... You also know that I am OBSESSED with Products and Inventions...
: D December can't come fast enough!!!
Image:
Chris America on ChrisBuck.com / see film section (camera) with Look alikes...
Image:
Dear Consulate of China:
We are very pleased to invite Ms. Chris America to visit China and to work on a TV commercial for our products.
The dates for visit to Beijing are from August 10th, 2009 to August 17th, 2009. We look forward to seeing you here
in Beijing and wish you have a great experience in China.
Best Regards,
Mr. HGuang Chen,
CEO
LGH B
July 2009
Image:
July 23, 2009: August of this year is completely booked. I will be traveling to North Carolina, Texas, Bejing, China, & Las Vegas between now and the end of next month. September has a few open dates in the later half...
Image:
Recent June Article mentioning Chris as Top Impersonator...
Another Article mentioning Chris America
Image:
May 2009: Busy year with lots of projects going on... Personally and professionally; I am currently in negotiations for product distribution - a life-long dream of mine... I will be on sabbatical with my tribute act thru July 15th. I will still be accepting select work into later parts of this year so inquiries are welcome during this time esp for the Holiday season - which is filling up quickly... Finishing up an amazing book collaboration on all aspects of Madonna and have been asked to host a weekly Blog through an online Entertainment company about the Tribute Industry as a whole - TBA shortly.
Chris America has been nominated for the 2009 Reel Awards: Tribute Artist Industry Award for the best Pop or Rock'n'Roll music performer. Results to be announced in May of 2009.
Image:
Image:
Chris America is featured in SKIRT Magazine's 2009 Women Entreprenuer's Edition selected by Editor Kim Wadsworth.
Image: Obama Innauguration Chris America as Madonna
I have not been on here much this past month. Work has kept me away for a while but hopefully can update in February sometime. This economy has changed the booking routine a little this year and many dates are contracted and on hold much earlier for the later part of this year - so if you are interested in my act - it is best to reserve a date asap - especially if you want me for the holiday season. I am booked solid through March 16 - with other dates after throughout 2009 filled and available. If you still need a Madonna on the dates I am already contracted on -let me know and I can refer you.
703-585-6072. Have a blessed New Year everyone!!!
Image:
Image: Barrack Obama Chris America
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Will the Real Miss Ciccone Please Stand Up?
For Chris America, being Madonna is a business
Elizabeth Blachman
A FACE IN THE CROWD: Chris America has more than 100 wigs, more than 40 Madonna costumes.
Chris America has been Madonna for almost as long as Madonna has. Now, the professional impersonator is pushing 25 years in the biz. She recently moved with her military husband to a suburban brick home in Virginia.
"When I got started, I did not even imagine I’d still be doing this in 2008," she says.
Our own local Madonna goes by her stage name, Chris America, because she works to keep the professional part of her life separate from her personal life.
In the early ‘80s, Chris was an aspiring actress who wanted to work in dinner theater. Her parents wanted her to be something conventional. While she was doing a stint delivering singing telegrams, a talent agent asked her if she would be willing to dress up as Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. It was the beginning of the MTV era, and the look-alike business had just begun.
Her first gig was a 13-year-old girl’s birthday party. As it turned out, the girl’s sister had died three months before, and Chris’ performance was the first time the girl had smiled since then.
"That was my most significant moment," says Chris.
Since then, Chris has had hundreds of moments as Madonna. She performs at weddings, birthdays, corporate events and night clubs. She travels all over the world and spends a large portion of her time on the road, dragging around 70 or 80 pounds of Madonna accoutrement in her suitcase. She has been on Oprah and the cover of Esquire, and she has performed in Vegas and at the White House. At the height of Madonna hysteria in the ‘90s, people screamed and cried when they mistook her for the pop icon. Japanese tourists chased her, and an actor dropped a script in her lap. She even stared down the Material Girl herself once at a Chris Isaak concert in the ‘90s.
In concert, Chris struts and tosses her head, singing tunes from "Like a Prayer" to "Candy Shop" in a voice that mimics Madonna’s.
"Madonna’s one of the hardest characters to impersonate because she’s always changing herself," says Chris.
The eras of Madonna’s career are lined up on mannequins throughout Chris’ house like some surreal art installation. She has 40 complete costumes—over 100 wigs.
Eighties Madonna in fishnet, the Hollywood glam of Blonde Ambition, the ghetto cowgirl look from "Don’t Tell Me" in 2000, the classic wedding gown from "Like a Virgin."
"Internationally, I’m one of the few who has all the eras of Madonna," she says. "I’ve known a couple of drag queens who’ve kept up with me, but I haven’t come across any Madonnas who have kept up at the pace I have in that way."
Sometimes it’s not easy being Madonna. Chris is meticulously organized. She keeps the costumes and runs the business.
"It’s a one-woman show. I’m the accountant, I’m the manager, I’m the costume person," she says. "I’m like the economical Madonna. Madonna’s got millions of dollars to spend on all these people to maintain her. I do it all myself."
And not only does Chris meticulously work on her costumes, she constantly works on herself.
"The number one challenge about portraying Madonna is trying to maintain her physique," she says. "It’s a lot of sacrifice."
Chris constantly works out, does yoga, and lifts weights.
"There are definitely days when I want off from Madonna," she muses. "She’s in my suitcase, she’s taking over my office—every day I’ve got to think about her."
The metamorphosis into Madonna takes close to one hour, depending on the costume. Chris dons her clothes, her makeup, her wig. She emphasizes Madonna’s signature gap between the teeth and puts in blue contact lenses. After that, when she looks at herself in the mirror with her cowboy hat, or Blonde Ambition curls, she says that she begins to feel transformed into the Queen of Pop.
"It’s a mindset," she says. "It’s holding yourself a certain way and projecting that kind of personality that she has."
Sometimes people don’t understand what Chris does.
"They have this Elvis impersonator complex that maybe we’re kind of strange because we do this," she says. "It is a specialty profession like a professional magician, a fire-breather or a ballroom dancer. It takes years of study, practice and training."
Chris laughs as she describes the scene at impersonator conventions, where you can run into everyone from Cher to Marilyn to Hillary Clinton. Elvis, of course, is the most popular.
"It’s just the funniest thing because you’ll see like 12 Dolly Partons walking around," she says.
Of the 40 or so professional Madonna impersonators in the country, Chris is on the A-list, one of the best.
"The professional ones, they’re really able to separate their identity from the character. As you get lower down the ranks, a lot of them are just far out."
You might expect one of the best Madonna impersonators in the country to be the biggest Madonna fan you ever met in your life. You’d be wrong. This is business.
"People assume because I’m an impersonator, I’m behind her one hundred percent all the time, and I’m not," says Chris, citing Madonna’s rebellious stunts like placing John McCain’s picture next to Hitler during a recent concert tour. Regardless of where you stood during the election, He is a hero who served our country and I found this to be highly disrespectful and disappointing. It is insulting to our military who have fought to give like her the privilege of of free speech and self expression. I personally prefer Madonna when she is not in a rebellious mode.
And in some ways, Chris and Madonna couldn’t be more different. Madonna’s into Kaballah, and Chris is a non-denominational Christian. Madonna’s love life is fodder for the tabloids, and Chris is happily married to a loving husband. Madonna deliberately pushes at society’s boundaries, and Chris’ shows are about pleasing the audience, making them happy and nostalgic.
Outside of her career as Madonna, Chris works on other projects, including a forthcoming "how to" book about the impersonator business. She has a fantasy of inventing products for QVC.
But for now, Madonna might make music and history for another decade or more. And so she and Chris America will continue to travel the world. Chris, however, is hoping that a roving Madonna can find work closer to her home. She’d like to spend more time with her husband and her tiny dog, Monty, and maybe spend a little less time in hotel rooms.
Madonna is one of the great imitators of history. Her unique styles are brilliant adaptations that borrow from starlets like Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner—even drag culture.
Chris America is following in that tradition. A great imitator of the great imitator.
Chris’ goal is to be a look-alike and also an original.
"I strive to portray Madonna in my own signature way."
For booking information and pictures go to www.chrisamerica.net.
Oct 16, 2008: Holiday News and Halloween etc...
This season is filling up pretty rapidly - doing a few more night clubs than usual this year - probably due to her current tour. I have a couple of New Years Eve proposals I am looking at - and will be making a decision soon.
Each year I get several emails for Madonna Halloween Costume advice and I tell people the number one place to shop for Madonna Halloween costumes is Ebay. My costumes are custom made and cost me a lot of money to maintain them, yet there ARE times I will look for special accessories on Ebay to complete my outfits. A lot depends on what you want to invest in a costume but espeically the 80's - that is not too hard to pull together : ) Just look for the signature styles that are all about Madonna - the mole, the frosted hair, the belly button, the bracelets, necklaces. I like to describe her early look as Little Girl Dress up meets a Christmas Tree. ; )
So Madonna is getting divorced. That is really sad - I kind of liked the two of them together but then, she is such a Icon status that I can only imagine it would be like being married to a career and personality 24/7. Not an easy task. I kind of knew this would be the outcome after Madonna stated in her Movie "I've got a Secret" that she thinks a good marriage is one where you marry someone who "pushes your buttons and makes you think" Uh... not in my opinion. You marry someone who is supportive and solutions oriented, nurturing and constructive etc... not someone who you have conflict with... I think too maybe she is married to her work to keep at the pace she keeps going.
As far as politics... I just want to say that I wish ALL celebrity types would not use their venues to promote politics. My personal feeling is people have paid to see their star perform, not hear their political views... so those who ask me, that is what I tell them.
Image:
Image: VOTE for Steven Lasher as Mandonna
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Hello Madonna Fans and web publishers, I work on behalf of Chris America, the world's most realistic and successful Madonna impersonator in the industry for over 20 years. She is headlining the two biggest Madonna parties in NYC for her 50th birthday this year. One is at the infamous "Splash" and at "B.B. King's" for their annual MADONNATHON. Tickets for the Madonnathon can be purchased in advance on ticketmaster.com. Thank you all so much ! If you could post Chris America's website for the fans it would be great for them to get a peak at her if they don't already know who she is. www.ChrisAmerica.net
Image:
The Madonnaton was an absolutely FUN experience! I will write more about it but I really enjoyed not only working in the show but having some of my very favorite friends with me!
August 2008: This Season is very busy. I will be touring to different night clubs and private events all through August - October. Most weekends are booked. Shows for The Madonnathon, Splash and Webster Hall are up next... then on to Dallas, Ft Lauderdale, Staten Island, Orlando and Scottsdale. I am debuting several new costumes for me and my dancers.
Image:
Image: SAN FRANCISCO / AUG 2008 / PRUDENTIAL SECURITIES AWARDS CEREMONY / 1000 GUESTS
Image:
Juyl 12, 08:
I am working on an entirely new concise web site for corporate clients as I realize this web site is overwhelming with way too much information. Again, it is like a filing cabinet for me to keep track of things... This page will turn into my main CURRENT NEWS page as the other one is too full and I will be labeling that one eventually as ARCHIVES in the distant future. ..So as you read through this - just go to the next CURRENT EVENTS page to get the rest.
Chris
Image:
I do band work on occasion but mainly my shows are done with Tracks because I fly from state to state and my act can be more accessible and versatile this way. I also have found tracks provide the kind of instrumental sound people are more familiar with...
In the past I shunned away from recording tracks because decent background music was difficult to find and thanks to new technology that is not the case now! So overdue, I've finally decided to take the time to make them.
Chris America photo in short article about "Sunburst" the annual convention for Professional Celebrity Impersonators. The pictures includes me with outstanding Cher Tribute Artist Betty Atchison! The article is apparently entitled something about "strange conventions" and it is listed in between the Funeral Directors Convention and the Sex Addicts Convention.
I don't know what it is about the media but they constantly want to group what we do as a profession as some weird culture??? We are no different than actors, dancers or magicians. We just specialize in a more nostalgic industry that is very challenging and requires much discipline, skill and financial commitment. Most talent I know in my industry are extremely gifted in many artistic areas of their lives outside of Impersonating - so articles are often misleading about the kind of work we do. Not to mention a huge challenge is always to meet client's high standards and expectations of the character whom we portray.
We actually live very normal lives outside of our work. We are not wannabees, we are not crazed fans, we work hard at this profession to meet expectations for our clients. We also drive to the Grocery Store, go to family reunions and take walks on the beach... go figure?!
Image: MAXIM MAGAZINE
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Image:
Other pages:
This is the text-only version of this page. Click here to see this page with graphics.
Edit this page |
Manage website
Make Your Own Website: 2-Minute-Website.com