female impersonator

plural female impersonators

1. performing artsA male entertainer who performs cross-dressed as a woman.

   "About the only job left that a woman can beat a man in is female impersonator in vaudeville."

   1908, O. Henry, “The Hand That Riles The World”, in The Gentle Grafter

   2 more examples

   It was Gerald converted me to be a true corsetlover when I was female impersonator in the High School play Vice Versa.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

   Danny La Rue, a female impersonator who became one of the highest-paid performers on the British stage by bringing sophistication and spectacle to a form of entertainment previously regarded as dubious, died at his home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on Sunday.

   2009 June 3, William Grimes, “Danny La Rue, Female Impersonator, Dies at 81”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Oct 2015

   Synonyms: drag queen