Miguel Zárate

On paper, Miguel Zárate is a choreographer and creative director. However, he’d prefer to describe himself as “a movement architect for some of your favorite pop stars, models, and TV shows.”

Zárate is a first-generation Mexican-American gay man from field-working (campesino) parents. As expected, explaining to his parents that he wanted to pursue dance as a profession turned out to be a pretty difficult pitch. “Not getting their blessing initially was the largest obstacle I’ve ever faced,” he says. “I overcame it by being the best and succeeding in such a huge way that their blessing and support was undeniable.”

As of 2023, Zárate has been featured several times as a choreographer on both flagship and All Stars seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, working with all kinds of drag performers with different skill levels and strengths. His past on-screen work includes The X Factor and the 2011 version of Footloose.

Looking ahead, Zárate’s dreams are somewhere in between “choreographing Lady Gaga’s next world tour, being a guest judge on Drag Race, and creating a new gay fragrance exclusively for bottoms.” He adds, “But the reality is that I have no fucking clue. I’m an artist with no agent or management backing me, but I’m a man of faith and I have no doubt in my mind that God will open the biggest doors for me to stomp through like Naomi Campbell.”

When asked about his biggest accomplishment of 2023, Zárate says that making the Out100 list is certainly the one. “I never saw it coming,” he explains. “To be recognized by my community in this way is the biggest dream come true.” @migzmigzmigz