Octavia St. Laurent
Encyclopedia
Trans woman
A trans woman is a male-to-female transsexual or transgender person and the term trans woman is preferred by some individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl...
and performer featured in the 1990 documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Paris Is Burning
Paris is Burning (film)
Paris Is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African American, Latino, gay and transgender communities involved in it...
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Unbeknownst to many Octavia was also in fact a very talented and soulful singer and had some original material which she began to work with in collaboration with Hartford CT. resident Greg Field. In late summer and fall of 2005 after a few impromptu test sessions Field was engaged to produce her recordings in his home digital recording studio, but the project was interrupted when Field went to Iceland to play in piano bars for an extended period. The project was never completed.
As of the 2006 release of the LGBT Historic Art Documentary How Do I Look
How Do I Look
How Do I Look is a LGBT Historic Art Documentary, released in 2006 as a documentary film directed by Wolfgang Busch, assistant directors are Kevin Omni and Luna Khan. Distributed by Art From The Heart; USA , 80 minutes...
, director Wolfgang Busch, she was using the name Heavenly Angel Octavia St. Laurent Manolo Blahnik. She discusses her drug use
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
, sex work, and fight with AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
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Later known as Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi, she died after a long battle with cancer on May 17, 2009.