Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television.

He wrote and starred in his early plays off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights.

[2] While at the university, Busch had difficulty being cast in plays and began to write his own material, which succeeded in drawing interest on campus.

[2] He thought perhaps that this last piece would be a skit put on in the Limbo Lounge, a performance space and gallery in the East Village in Manhattan.

[8] Busch and his collaborators soon created a series of shows, mostly at the Limbo Lounge, such as Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium (1984) and Times Square Angel (1985, Provincetown Playhouse).

[13] Busch rewrote the book for the musical Ankles Aweigh for a 1988 production staged by the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.

[15] Also in 1993, he performed in a revival of Jean Genet's The Maids at the Off-Broadway Classic Stage Company in the role of Solange.

[18] The Green Heart was adapted by Busch from a short story by Jack Ritchie into a musical which was produced by the Manhattan Theater Club at the Variety Arts Theatre in New York City, opening in April 1997.

[24][25] Busch's early film appearances include Ms. Ellen, a fortune teller in drag in Trouble on the Corner (1997).

"[30] He wrote television sitcom pilots and movie treatments as a source of extra income while he was a cult performer.

[30] In 2001, he guest starred on the American soap opera, One Life to Live, playing Peg Barlow, a woman who owns a modeling agency.

[31] Busch's work debuted on Broadway in October 2000, when The Tale of the Allergist's Wife opened, following an Off-Broadway run in February through April 2000.

[36] Since 2000, Busch has performed an annual one-night staged reading of his 1984 Christmas play Times Square Angel.

[37] In January 2003, he headlined a revival of his 1999 play Shanghai Moon, costarring BD Wong, at the Drama Dept, Greenwich House Theatre, New York City.

[40] Our Leading Lady, Busch's play about Laura Keene, was produced by the Manhattan Theater Club at the City Center Stage II Theatre, in 2007, and starred Kate Mulgrew.

[44] Busch wrote and starred in a play, The Divine Sister, a satirical take on Hollywood films about religion, including Doubt and the Sound of Music.

[46] In March 2019, Busch starred as Lucille Ball in I Loved Lucy by playwright Lee Tannen at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, New York.

I was never cast at Northwestern for basically these reasons, and finally, I thought maybe what's most disturbing about me is what is most unique: my theatrical sense, my androgyny, even identifying with old movie actresses".

"[1] Busch generally writes without a political agenda, and he predominantly portrays characters who are white, middle class, gay, and between 20 and 40 years old.

Busch presented his one-man show Hollywood Confidential in a theater owned by The Ridiculous Theatrical Company in July 1978 at One Sheridan Square, New York.

"[48] During his run in The Tribute Artist, Busch revealed that he also found inspiration in drag performers Charles Pierce and Lynne Carter.