Doctor of the University
Award-winning producer and director of documentaries and feature films.
Fenton Bailey was born in Portsmouth, read English at Oxford and attended the Graduate Film Program at NYU (New York University) on a Harkness Fellowship. It was there he met Randy Barbato. Together they founded the independent media powerhouse World of Wonder.
Together, and alongside their long-time friend and collaborator RuPaul Charles, they produce the global phenomenon RuPaul’s Drag Race, a hybrid reality and variety competition show that has catapulted the art of drag into the mainstream. The landmark show has won a record-breaking 33 Emmys over the course of 16 seasons, with 26 international versions of the show available in 190 countries. All can be streamed on their owned SVOD service WOW Presents Plus, along with over 50 original series.
Over the course of their 30-year career, they have produced more than 250 projects and claim nearly three dozen credits as directors and producers, including award-winning documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye, as well as the Academy Award winning film version of the same name starring Jessica Chastain.
Fenton co-hosts The Wow Report on Radio Andy Sirius XM and is the author of ScreenAge (Ebury Books) a critically acclaimed and powerful account of how television has shaped our reality.
Other films include Party Monster (the documentary and the feature film starring Macaulay Culkin) Monica in Black and White, Wishful Drinking, and Inside Deep Throat.
Recent work includes Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes, based on Ronan Farrow’s explosive Harvey Weinstein investigation, and Small Town News, both with HBO.
Fenton calls Los Angeles his home, where he raises his two children.