Daphne Always feels like you probably catch her drift by now, but here’s the lore dump, if you’re interested.

She was born on Long Island and raised in Jersey, which she insists is glamorous. She’s been performing since 2011, when she came to New York to pursue a Bachelor’s in Classics and Philosophy at NYU. She began exploring the performance world as a drag queen by the name Daphne Sumtimez, earning her stripes as a jill-of-all-trades among queer community in venues like Club Cumming, The Box, and Brooklyn’s beloved dive TNT. In 2017, she started transitioning and changed her name to Daphne Always. While this was mostly to her a daffy gag, it was received by the public as a grand gesture of Trans Authenticity™. Alas, it wasn’t not this, and she does tend to thrive at such intersections of the absurd and the sincere.

Somehow, her life has since followed a trajectory of gorgeous, artistic (ad)ventures, for which she’s been offered her a paycheck, attention, or both. She’s worked with decorated artists at esteemed venues in a wide array of capacities. During COVID, Daph fell back on her academic chops to nurture a career as a tutor of math, physics, chemistry, writing, Latin, and Ancient Greek. Honestly, she does have a genuine love for teaching and if you Get Her Started, she’ll go on about how sharing knowledge is one of the fundamental human endeavors or something.

Constantly evolving, Daphne always seeks new horizons: more travel, juicier roles, richer artistry. She is doing her best to build a sustainable life dedicated to the Work of community building, fostering emotional disarmament among strangers, and leaving this world better than we found it.