Madonna has worked with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry throughout her four-decade career. The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and actor has also helped launch the careers of many other figures in the world of entertainment, including one of her former hairstylists.
Madonna met José Xtravaganza through her hairstylist.
Madonna has always been known as a pioneer who has shined a spotlight on lesser-known parts of popular culture. At the turn of the 1990s, she showcased New York City’s ballroom scene and its talented vogue dancers in a way that had never been seen before.
She met veteran voguer José Xtravaganza on the dance floor at a New York City nightclub in the late 1980s. She was introduced to him by one of her collaborators at the time, Debi Mazar. Xtravaganza reflected on the moment they met in a 2016 interview.
“[Working with Madonna] was something that I didn’t set out to do,” he said honestly. “I was training professionally as a professional ballet dancer and I was into my studies.
“I was going out to clubs a lot, though, on the weekends and stuff. And that’s how I came across her. She had heard about me,” he continued. “I would go to this club and vogue and I knew her hairstylist at the time, who’s an actress now, Debi Mazar. And me and her were friends in the club scene.’”
Debi Mazar went on to become a well-known actor
Mazar met Madonna while working at the popular New York City nightclub Danceteria in the 1980s. Madge hired her to do her makeup for her “Everybody” music video. She went on to appear in five of Madonna’s music videos over the next two decades: “Papa Don’t Preach,” “True Blue,” “Justify My Love,” “Deeper and Deeper,” and “Music.”
Mazar went on to appear in a number of films in the 1990s. She had minor roles in Goodfellas, The Doors, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Bullets Over Broadway, and Batman Forever. She even appeared in an episode of Friends.
Debi Mazar’s life after Madonna
Mazar continued to work in the entertainment industry in the 2000s and 2010s. From 2004 to 2011, she had a supporting role on Entourage. She also had a recurring role on the sitcom Living with Fran, playing Fran Drescher’s character’s cousin, Merrill. She also had a guest stint on Ugly Betty.
In 2009, Mazar was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars. In 2011, she, her husband Gabriele Corcos, and their two daughters starred in the Cooking Channel show Extra Virgin. The show was a mix between a cooking show and reality show. In 2015, she and her husband started another series on the Cooking Channel entitled Extra Virgin Americana where they travel the U.S. with their children on the hunt for good food.
From 2015 to 2021, Mazar starred in Younger with Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff as Maggie Amato. The show remains the longest-running original series in TV Land’s history.
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