A few years ago Andrew Levitt was carrying bags of money out the back door after his shows while raising money for charities in the shadows of the local drag queen world. Now Nina West, his stage name, is one of the world’s most recognizable drag queens with performances around the world and appearances with Hollywood’s stars on the red carpet.

Nina West was rehearsing for another drag show at a Short North nightclub when she glanced down at her phone and saw there was an incoming call from Los Angeles.

She ran offstage and into the parking lot not long before sunset to be alone. West had been waiting for this phone call for almost a decade.

She had previously auditioned eight times for RuPaul’s popular "Drag Race" reality television show. Eight times she was told no.

This time, the voice on the phone told the local drag queen that she finally was going to perform on the big stage. The news left her screaming and sobbing.

"I knew either way that call would change my life forever," said Andrew Levitt, who has performed drag as West since 2001. "And it has."

Since getting that call in the spring of 2018, Levitt, 41, has gone from a popular Columbus drag performer and gay rights activist to one of the most recognizable drag queens in the world.

His popularity from the reality show helped make him the first drag queen to walk the red carpet at the Emmy Awards. He has been an invited guest at movie premieres and met stars such as actress Angelina Jolie.

In the past year, the Denison University graduate has only been at his Harrison West neighborhood home with his two dogs for maybe 25 days, he said. Instead, the 6- foot-3, 240-pound Nina has performed hundreds of shows around the world, crisscrossing Europe and Australia and almost every state in the U.S.

He still works for himself, but now he has an agent, a publicist, an assistant and others to help manage his exploding career.

Not long ago, Levitt had a full-time job working as a marketing director for a local nightclub. He used to collect the money thrown by fans onto the stage, stuff it in garbage bags and carry it out the back door of local clubs. Some of that money allowed parents to live close to their sick children while they were hospitalized. Families who could never afford a trip to Disney World were sent there for free. Disadvantaged women trying to make it in the workforce were provided proper business attire.

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Levitt, who is gay, continues to crusade for gay marriage, equal rights, access to health care and anything that threatens or discriminates against the LGBTQ community. But his influence and impact has always extended far past the gay community. He estimates the Nina West Fund, established with the Columbus Foundation in 2015, has now raised about $3 million for nonprofits and charities from Besa to Flying Horse Farms.

It was closer to $2 million in 2018, but the increased exposure on the reality show helped accelerate its growth.

"I have known he was going to be huge for a very long time," said Patricia Taylor, who is Levitt’s best friend and who has known him since their college days together. "I’m only surprised that it has taken this long for the world to see what Columbus has known for years — that he is an amazing writer and performer, and when you encounter him, he makes you feel better about yourself."

Keeping pace

The transformation from Andrew to Nina was underway in an Easton hotel room recently with two professional makeup artists from L.A. caking on layers of foundation and eye shadow.

Levitt was almost oblivious to the brushes that moved across his face as he feverishly texted friends and business associates on a rainy day in late February. He was preparing for an all-day photo shoot to produce marketing materials for Nina’s future shows and appearances. He had just finished a month-long tour in Europe and was home for only three days before returning to the road for another month.

"Do you want to take a break?" one of the artists asked.

"Keep going," Levitt said, laughing, without looking up from texting. "There hasn’t been time for breaks in a while."

Someone, somewhere wants something from Levitt every hour of his day. And he feels the pressure of pleasing his adoring fans, something that almost broke him following the filming of "Drag Race" in the summer of 2018.

Nina made it to the second-to-last episode of Season 11 on the VH1 show, winning the Miss Congeniality Award and finishing sixth out of the 15 drag queens who competed. But that wasn’t nearly good enough for Levitt, who was devastated by the results and felt like he disappointed family, friends, Columbus and his adoring fans.

Making it worse, he couldn’t talk about it with almost anyone due to legal agreements preventing him from even disclosing that he had made it on the show. Only his therapist, parents and a couple of close friends, who signed nondisclosure agreements, knew what was happening.

"It was torture for about nine months until the show aired," Levitt said. "Therapy helped a lot and has taught me how to stay in the moment."

But Levitt’s fears of disappointing anyone soon disappeared with drag fans’ reaction to Nina’s performance on the show when it finally aired in the winter of 2019. Many were outraged that Nina didn’t make it to the final episode, and judging by the social media reaction, Nina became one of the more popular contestants in the show’s history.

The invitations for Nina to perform at venues around the U.S. and other continents came pouring in. Levitt agrees that Nina’s stature might have benefited more from the outcry of support than if he had actually won the show.

He believes it was actually a good thing that he was rejected by the show all those years. Looking back, he said he wasn’t mature enough or ready 10 years ago to handle the explosion of fame or responsibility that comes with it.

"Drag is bigger than ever in mainstream pop culture, and I am benefiting from it," Levitt said. "My life is amazing. It’s a gift to be working on this level, and it doesn’t seem real at times."

Identity crisis

The rain started pouring a little harder as Levitt and his team walked down the Short North sidewalk, carrying drag dresses and accessories for the photo shoot.

Levitt has an entire floor, a garage and a basement stuffed with Nina’s dresses, but on this day he carefully selected about eight looks. After applying another layer of makeup, squeezing into a body suit and pulling on a black and white checkered dress with a bright red wig, Nina had arrived.

"Andrew is so kind and childlike, but Nina is our girl," said Staley Munroe, who directed the shoot and has worked with Levitt for years. "If anyone thinks Nina is a diva, well, she deserves to be a diva."

The chaos of constant travel and performing and the pressure of representing the drag community on a world stage has cost Levitt some relationships. There was a serious boyfriend of four months who Levitt couldn’t fit into the glamorous new lifestyle. (They remain friends.)

There are friends and others in the drag world who feel shunned because Levitt can’t keep up with all their texts or give them the attention he once could. And he can no longer make all the local appearances that helped him build his loyal fan base here in central Ohio.

Those in Levitt’s inner circle defend him against accusations that the spotlight has taken away their friend.

"He is still the same loving, kind and talented friend he has always been," said Chris Equizi, who is Levitt’s drag mother/mentor and performs at local shows as Virginia West. "When you are the nourisher to so many people for so long and now you aren’t around as much, some people are going to take it personally.

"True friends don’t have jealousy of one another."

Still, Levitt is always wishing he had time for more.

More time to be an activist and help young kids who are bullied, discriminated against for their gender or told they can’t perform drag at a local library.

More time to respond to his growing, adoring fan base on social media, which includes nearly 122,000 followers on Twitter.

More time to walk his dogs, Edgar and Felicity, back home.

But, for now, Levitt knows his life has to be centered around his career and living up to the opportunity he has long waited for to represent the drag world on the biggest stage.

"I was always the pudgy 6-foot-3 guy built like a linebacker who loves drag and loves to make others happy," Levitt said. "And that’s who I always will be."

mwagner@dispatch.com

@MikeWagner48