Who

Filicia runs his own small interior design firm but he's best known as the man who made mediocre apartments slightly less mediocre on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Backstory

An upstate New York native, Filicia attended Syracuse before dropping out to take a job working under legendary designer Albert Hadley at Parish-Hadley. He didn't stay long, bolting to Jeffrey Bilhuber's decorating outfit, where he remained for several years before going out on his own in 1998. Although he enjoyed some success running his own design firm, it was his role as the interior design gay on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that launched him to fame. (How'd he land the Queer Eye gig? He and his dog serendipitously got stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes with the show's talent manager.) Predictably, Filicia's television shenanigans provided a major boost to his business, leading impressionable Bravo viewers—as well as a few celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony—to hire him to decorate their houses. But he's also been hell-bent on remaining in the media spotlight. Although Queer Eye was unceremoniously cancelled in 2006, Filicia returned to the air soon after with the half-hour Style Network series Dress My Nest. He also served as Pier 1's TV spokesman for a spell before the struggling chain dropped him in 2005.

Personal

Filicia and his boyfriend, publicist Greg Calejo, have a one-bedroom at the new development 505 Hudson. They spend weekends at a lake house in the Hudson Valley.