Martin Cooper knew even as a little boy growing up in Miami, Florida that he belonged on stage. His time as a pre-law major at Alabama State University didn’t last long before he told his parents about his switch to a Theatre Arts major. At ASU among finding himself, he also found his alter ego Coco Montrese who was just supposed to make appearances for extra cash for a starving college student. After returning home from college, Cooper decided to audition for Walt Disney Entertainment in Orlando. He spent 11 years as a performer at the happiest place on earth. During the 11 years at Disney, he got into pageantry and began pursuing the title of Miss Gay America. It took him 3 attempts until he was finally crowned Miss Gay America in 2010. During a preliminary for the 2011 MGA pageant, Cooper was discovered by Las Vegas's longest running headliner Frank Marino and asked to join the cast of Divas. He appears nightly as Janet Jackson, Rihanna and Dionne Warwick. Copper has also ventured off into reality TV. He was a contestant on season 5 of Rupaul’s Drag Race where he landed in the Top 5 out of 13 overall contestants.
