# Santino Rice
**Santino Rice** grew up in [St. Charles, Missouri](https://www.edgepedia.org/st-charles-missouri), and built his design career in Los Angeles.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1974 or 1975; St. Charles, Missouri (one biographical source gives 1974)[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/santino-rice-44956.php) |
| Breakthrough | Finalist, *Project Runway* season 2 (Bravo, 2006), one of two runners-up to winner Chloe Dao[3](https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/project-runway/2006/03/15/sanest-man-reality-tv) |
| Signature TV role | Judge on *RuPaul's Drag Race* (Logo, from 2009), including the show's second season[4](https://windycitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/wct_2010-01-27.pdf) |
| Other series | *America's Most Smartest Model* (2007) and *On the Road with Austin & Santino* (2010)[5](https://www.metacritic.com/person/santino-rice/) |
| On-screen persona | The season 2 "villain," known for outsize ego, impersonations, and arguments with the judges[6](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=e7bc3166679a1e0d85f5e17847cf1796a31e9a4e&repid=rep1&type=pdf) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-08-et-stylenotebook8-story.html) |
## Early life and education
In a 2006 interview he described feeling like an outsider growing up in St. Charles because he looked different, and said he was happy to move to Los Angeles at 17.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/) In Los Angeles he began working with the artist Tony Duquette, who he said introduced him to Asian culture and was a major influence on him.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/)
## Project Runway
Rice competed on the second season of *Project Runway*, the Bravo design competition hosted by [Heidi Klum](https://www.edgepedia.org/heidi-klum), in which contestants design clothes hoping to show a collection at [New York Fashion Week](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-fashion-week).[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/) The season two finale saw Laos-born, Houston-raised designer Chloe Dao triumph over her two cofinalists, Daniel Vosovic and Rice.[3](https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/project-runway/2006/03/15/sanest-man-reality-tv) On the show he created work ranging from glamorous red-carpet gowns to Lederhosen-inspired lingerie, and he won a challenge with a dress made for [Nicky Hilton](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicky-hilton) to wear on a red carpet.[11](https://www.fandango.com/people/santino-rice-1063449/biography) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-08-et-stylenotebook8-story.html)
**The villain role.** Academic analysis of the series identifies Rice as filling the villain role in season 2, arguing forcefully with judge Nina Garcia on the runway about his lingerie collection, a confrontation that had not occurred on the show before.[6](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=e7bc3166679a1e0d85f5e17847cf1796a31e9a4e&repid=rep1&type=pdf) The *Washington Post* described him in February 2006 as dodging elimination after elimination while judges told him his "Galliano-ish knockoffs" were over the top or not woman-friendly; after he showed a figure-skating costume covered with feathers, Klum said she was ready to eliminate him, but he was voted "in" again.[8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2006/02/12/question-celebrity-span-classbankheadwith-hank-stueverspan/1ca9d104-16b2-452d-aabc-e0517d8f4326/) His name became, in one [TV Guide](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-guide) writer's phrasing, practically synonymous with the show's second season.[9](https://www.tvguide.com/news/final-cuts-runways-41291/)
The show's editing shaped his public image, and he pushed back against it. In his home-visit segment, the series disclosed that he was the child of a Black mother and white father and that he had been destitute after his fashion line went out of business, material the academic account reads as humanizing the season's designated villain.[6](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=e7bc3166679a1e0d85f5e17847cf1796a31e9a4e&repid=rep1&type=pdf) In the 2006 BK Magazine interview Rice said there was "a big misconception about me because I was portrayed as an asshole on TV," adding that some material was edited out until later episodes showed more of his personality.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/)
The exposure translated into commercial attention. A *Los Angeles Times* style notebook in July 2006 found Rice, then 31 and known for his outsize ego and scruffy military jackets, signing DVDs at a Santa Monica video store to promote the season 2 DVD release, while meeting with potential backers for his own line; the piece observed that the show was as much about breaking into the television industry as into fashion.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-08-et-stylenotebook8-story.html) Rice himself said the show's fame had "opened up a lot of doors" and that his focus at the time was custom-made pieces while he sought investors for his own label.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/)
## Television after Project Runway
Rice's reality-television career continued on *RuPaul's Drag Race*, the Logo series that adapted the *Project Runway* format for drag performers.[11](https://www.fandango.com/people/santino-rice-1063449/biography) He said RuPaul had reached out to him early, after his *Project Runway* season, and the two became friends; Rice judged the show's entire first season and returned for season two.[4](https://windycitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/wct_2010-01-27.pdf) His screen credits also include *America's Most Smartest Model* (2007), *RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars* (2012), and *The Megan Mullally Show* (2006).[5](https://www.metacritic.com/person/santino-rice/)
In 2010 he co-starred with fellow *Project Runway* alumnus Austin Scarlett in *On the Road with Austin & Santino* on Lifetime, a half-hour series in which the two traveled from small town to small town designing custom-made dresses for women.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/person/santino-rice/) • [10](https://www.mytakeontv.com/2010/10/07/santino-rice-previews-on-the-road-with-austin-and-santino/) Rice said the show grew from an idea he and Scarlett, friends since his season's wrap party, developed with executive producer Rich By and the Weinstein Company.[10](https://www.mytakeontv.com/2010/10/07/santino-rice-previews-on-the-road-with-austin-and-santino/) He framed the custom-dress premise as an extension of his own made-to-order business: the point, he said, was not the number on the label but a garment fitted to the client's measurements.[10](https://www.mytakeontv.com/2010/10/07/santino-rice-previews-on-the-road-with-austin-and-santino/)
## Design work and public image
Rice has described fashion as a storytelling medium, saying "I transmit my stories through fashion," and has continued to work on custom pieces.[1](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/) Biographical profiles credit him as a painter and illustrator as well as a designer, and state that he continues to design under his own label.[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/santino-rice-44956.php) His television persona, built on quick humor, impressions of figures such as [Tim Gunn](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-gunn), and open conflict with judges, made him one of the recognizable personalities of early-2000s reality television even though he did not win his season.[11](https://www.fandango.com/people/santino-rice-1063449/biography) • [8](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2006/02/12/question-celebrity-span-classbankheadwith-hank-stueverspan/1ca9d104-16b2-452d-aabc-e0517d8f4326/)
## References
1. [Fashion Designer Santino Rice, BK Magazine (December 28, 2006)](https://www.bkmagazine.com/article/fashion-designer-santino-rice/)
2. [Santino Rice Biography, TheFamousPeople](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/santino-rice-44956.php)
3. [The sanest man in reality TV, Advocate.com (March 15, 2006)](https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/project-runway/2006/03/15/sanest-man-reality-tv)
4. [Runway's Santino now on RuPaul's Drag Race, Windy City Times (January 27, 2010)](https://windycitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/wct_2010-01-27.pdf)
5. [Santino Rice, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/person/santino-rice/)
6. [Television & New Media, academic article on Project Runway narratives](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?doi=e7bc3166679a1e0d85f5e17847cf1796a31e9a4e&repid=rep1&type=pdf)
7. [Ready -- to where?, Los Angeles Times (July 8, 2006)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-08-et-stylenotebook8-story.html)
8. [Question Celebrity, The Washington Post (February 12, 2006)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2006/02/12/question-celebrity-span-classbankheadwith-hank-stueverspan/1ca9d104-16b2-452d-aabc-e0517d8f4326/)
9. [Final Cuts from Runway's Santino, TV Guide (2006)](https://www.tvguide.com/news/final-cuts-runways-41291/)
10. [Santino Rice previews On the Road with Austin and Santino, My Take on TV (October 7, 2010)](https://www.mytakeontv.com/2010/10/07/santino-rice-previews-on-the-road-with-austin-and-santino/)
11. [Santino Rice Biography, Fandango](https://www.fandango.com/people/santino-rice-1063449/biography)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts › Textile and clothing industry › Fashion designers › American fashion designers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license