When it comes to bicons, they don’t get any bigger than Lady Gaga. A multi-talented performer who needs little introduction, Lady Gaga is a singer, songwriter, actor, global megastar, and cultural icon whose work is recognized in every corner of the world.
But before she was shattering records, raking in awards, releasing “odes to bisexuality”, and playing kickass bi characters in TV and film, she was just another misunderstood kid who didn’t know where she fit in.
Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986 into an Italian-American family in New York City, Lady Gaga’s upbringing was one of strict Catholic education and a culture of middle-class hard work. But young Stefani never quite felt she belonged. She recalled feeling “like a freak” for being too free-spirited, provocative, and eccentric.
She began playing music at the age of four, taking piano lessons and quickly learning to play by ear. Her childhood and adolescence were filled with art camps, recitals, open mic nights, school plays, and musicals. As a young woman, she also studied method acting for a decade at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.
Though it would be years before she began using her stage name, Lady Gaga made some early appearances on screen for music videos such as AC/DC’s “Stiff Upper Lip” (2000) and as a background bit role in a 2001 episode of The Sopranos (1999–2007).
After a couple of years in a New York University music program, Lady Gaga dropped out of college to focus on her music career. She began playing gigs in downtown NYC, developed contacts, and found work as a songwriter. The flamboyance of these early performances had her friends calling her “gaga”, and from there, “Lady Gaga” was born. After a few years of hustling, she got her shot and took it, skyrocketing to stardom with her debut album The Fame (2008). With an eclectic and boundary-pushing musical style that blended elements from pop, dance, electronic, rock, and jazz with a theatrical flair, Lady Gaga was an instant sensation. The Fame featured the chart-topping singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.” During a 2009 concert, Lady Gaga explained that “Poker Face” was about having sex with a man while fantasizing about women, and it became a theme song for the bi community.[1]
Her second studio album, Born This Way (2011), was another smashing success, one that helped shape her brand and fanbase. One of the album’s hit singles, also titled “Born This Way”, was inspired by and has been embraced as an LGBT anthem. In a monologue before the music begins, Lady Gaga describes herself as “Mother Monster”, a moniker she’s been known by among fans, who call themselves “little monsters” ever since. The song also features the line “put your paws up” — a call to action for people to own their true selves and express their individuality that has since become one of her signature catchphrases.
Lady Gaga continues to release albums and singles and is one of the world’s best-selling musical artists, with over 170 million records sold as of 2018. Her music has earned an astounding 14 Grammy awards with another 38 nominations. She also holds 10 active Guinness World Records!
Her prodigious talents, however, go far beyond music. Lady Gaga’s acting career includes roles playing the bi vampire Countess Elizabeth in American Horror Story: Hotel (2015–2016), and starring in films such as A Star Is Born (2018), House of Gucci (2021), and Joker: Folie à Deux (2024), playing Harley Quinn. In 2019, she won an Academy Award for Best Song with “Shallow” from A Star is Born. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the same film. That same year, Lady Gaga made history as the first woman to win an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, and Grammy in the same year. Her work has been recognized with two Golden Globes and another six nominations, four Primetime Emmy nominations, and another pair of Oscar nominations for her musical contributions to The Hunting Ground (2015) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
On top of her incredible career as a performer, Lady Gaga founded her own non-profit, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on promoting youth empowerment and combating bullying.
Lady Gaga made a surprise performance of “Mon truc en plumes” at the 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony. That same year, she released the standalone single “Die with a Smile” with Bruno Mars, which became her first number one on the Billboard Global 200, where it sat for eight weeks in more than 20 countries. Likewise, “Abracadabra” (2025) from her long-awaited seventh studio album, Mayhem (2025), is already making history, becoming her second top-five entry on the Billboard Global 200.
Lady Gaga is very openly bi and an outspoken LGBT advocate. In 2010, she famously discussed her bisexuality with Barbara Walters in a 20/20 interview, in which she expressed that she has had sexual relationships with both men and women. She’s also grappled with biphobia in the spotlight.
In 2013, she addressed the misconceptions around bi people supposedly needing to perform their bisexuality in order to claim the label, telling Attitude Magazine: “I am bisexual, I’ve said it before I’ll say it again, I don’t need to — I’m sorry if this is a bit vulgar — I don’t need to eat p***y in front of people for the whole world to take me seriously.”
In a 2019 speech at New York City’s WorldPride, held outside the famous Stonewall Inn, she opened up about feeling unsure whether she, as a bi woman, was even considered to be part of the LGBT community. The speech made headlines across the media and sparked a wave of much-needed conversation about bi erasure and bi exclusion within LGBT circles.
Between her prolific music and her acting career, Lady Gaga shows no signs of slowing down.