Richard Magarey

Rick Magarey as Ladybeard, 2016

Richard "Rick" Magarey (born August 3, 1983 in Adelaide , Australia ) is an Australian wrestler , singer , actor , stuntman and crossdresser . Magarey achieved international fame primarily through his alter ego , the fictional character Ladybeard ( ring name also Lady Beard, Japaneseレ デ ィ ビ ア ー ド, Cantonese鬍鬚 女 Wu So Lui), as which he appears in the Japanese professional wrestling league DDT and in the Idol - Group Ladybaby participated.

life and work

Richard Magarey grew up in Adelaide, where he trained as an actor at Flinders University , which he graduated in 2004. In 2005 Magarey spent in Melbourne , where he had the opportunity to train with a stuntman from Jackie Chan 's team. Because of a tip from him and because of the poor job market for actors in Australia, Magarey moved to Hong Kong in 2006 to advance his career as a martial artist and stuntman . While working on films, he began getting into the ring for the Hong Kong Pro Wrestling Federation. Since embodying a role is essential in wrestling, the character Ladybeard was created in the course of this. As part of a show, Magarey sang Cantonese metal- style pop songs in women's clothing and quickly became one of Hong Kong's most popular wrestlers. During a tour in 2011 Magarey came to Japan for the first time and took a liking to it, which is why he moved to Tokyo in 2013 in the hope of being well received there as well and being able to expand his popularity even further . In 2015 Magarey founded the group Ladybaby as Ladybeard together with the two teen idols Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya , whose first single Nippon Manju was viewed over 25 million times on YouTube .

The figure Ladybeard

Richard Magarey started crossdressing at the age of 14 when he appeared at a friend's themed party in his older sister's school uniform. Due to the extremely positive reactions that Magarey experienced there, he often came to celebrations in women's clothing to entertain the other guests. Between the ages of 19 and 20, influenced by artists such as Marilyn Manson and Wednesday 13 , he attended metal concerts in clothes and, contrary to his original expectations, received mostly positive feedback. According to his own statements, this spurred him on, as the people were strangers and not people from their own environment.

The persona Ladybeard was created in 2009 during Magarey's work in the Hong Kong Pro Wrestling Federation, when he was asked to come up with a role. Despite his fears that his appearance as a bearded foreigner with poor knowledge of Cantonese in women's clothes would mainly attract ridicule in the wrestling scene, Ladybeard was enthusiastically received and, according to his own account, was the most popular wrestler in Hong Kong after his first match.

Ladybeard describes herself as a 5-year-old, bearded girl who, through mysterious circumstances, carries the memories of a 30-year-old Australian, loves cuteness and destruction and hates malice.

Acting career

Richard Magarey completed his acting training at the Flinders Drama Center in 2004, but had previously worked in the film business. In 2003 he made his first professional appearance in a commercial for the goodwill chain of thrift stores. Before he moved to Hong Kong in 2006, he mainly appeared in advertising campaigns and short films in Australia, but also worked in larger productions such as the film Ultraviolet . Meanwhile, he trained with Showdown Productions to depict action and fight scenes.

During his time in Hong Kong he worked on the productions Flashpoint and Irreversi. Magarey also embodied roles in the international feature films Deep Gold and Midnight Movie, a horror film. In addition to appearing in a commercial for Visa together with Jackie Chan , Magarey also took on various roles as a voice actor, for example in the series Wastelander Panda or in promotions for Cartoon Network Australia.

Filmography

• 2005: Pulp Action (short film)
• 2006: Destinations (short film)
• 2007: Miss FTW (TV series)
• 2008: Midnight Movie
• 2010: Irreversi
• 2011: Deep Gold
• 2013: Wastelander Panda: Exile (TV series)

Athletic career

From childhood Richard Magarey had a great interest in martial arts and trained Taekwondo , Jeet Kune Do , Muay Thai and Capoeira . He was particularly interested in wrestling, as it combines his two great passions, martial arts and acting, in a certain way. But since the next training opportunity in Australia was too far away, he could not practice the sport there.

In 2009 Magarey was referred to the Hong Kong Pro Wrestling Federation while attending a concert in Hong Kong, where he completed his first match as Ladybeard after just two months of training, where he benefited from his martial arts and stuntman experience. His unconventional appearances, which he combined with metal versions of Cantonese pop songs, brought him great popularity in the local scene.

Since 2014 Richard Magarey has been playing professionally as Ladybeard in the DDT and Union Pro Wrestling leagues in Japan. In the latter, he held the title "Union Pro Fly To Everywhere World Champion" in women's wrestling for 73 days from June 2014.

Achievements and titles

• Union Pro Fly To Everywhere World Championship: June 19 to August 31, 2014

Musical career

Rick Magarey's musical career began in Hong Kong in 2009, parallel to the creation of the character Ladybeard. During his wrestling matches he sang as Ladybeard songs of the Cantocore genre that he himself founded , which fuses the melodic elements of cantopop with the guttural singing and the harshness of metal . As inspiration for this, Magarey cites his passion for Cantopop, which he wanted to fuse with the emotions of metal.

From 2015 to mid-2016 Magarey appeared as Ladybeard together with the two idols Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya as a group called Ladybaby , which was originally launched by the Japanese costume manufacturer Clearstone for promotional purposes. Magarey himself defined the musical genre based on the Japanese word for cute ( kawaii ) as kawaii metal or kawaiicore . It combined the "sweet" elements of J-Pop , such as the melodies and choreographies, with the sometimes brutal guttural singing and the energy of metal . While Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya mostly took over the clear vocals, Ladybeard took on the role of the shouter in the band . The project achieved international fame mainly through the distribution of their first single Nippon Manju via social media. It has now been viewed over 25 million times since it was uploaded to YouTube (as of August 4, 2018). Magarey separated from Ladybaby in August 2016. The band name was then changed from Ladybaby to The Idol Formerly Known As Ladybaby .

Discography

No.	title	Release date ( YouTube upload date)	Charts
			JP
1	Nippon Manju / Ultra Lucky	July 29, 2015 (July 4, 2015)	109
2	Age-Age Money / Beard-chan Robot	January 13, 2016 (December 12, 2015)	31
3	Renge Chance / C'est si bon kibun	April 13, 2016 (March 14, 2016)

Web links

• Official website of Ladybeard
• Official website of Ladybaby

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Felix Lill: Bearded man winner in Japan's women wrestling . The daily mirror . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Profile of Ladybeard on cagematch.de . CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Profile of Ladybeard on ddtpro.com . DDT Official Web Site. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jake Cleland: From Ladybeard to Ladybaby: the pro wrestling heavy metal singer taking Japan by storm . The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Liz Ohanesian: MEET LADYBABY, JAPAN'S KAWAIICORE (AND PRO-WRESTLING) ANSWER TO ANDREW WK . NOISEY . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Flinders Drama Center Graduates 2004 . Flinders Drama Center . Archived from the original on February 27, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 30, 2016. 
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Profile of Richard Magarey in the IMDb . IMDb . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Johannes Pong: Upclose with Wu So Lui . HK Magazine. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Matt Gilbertson: Cross-dressing Adelaide wrestler 'Ladybeard' a huge hit in Hong Kong . The Advertiser . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
10. ↑ ^{a b} An Interview with Ladybeard, our Favorite Cross-Dressing Bearded Wrestler . Tokyo Desu. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 30, 2016. 
11. ↑ Chris B: Band Review Ladybeard (Wu So Lui 鬍鬚 女) on undergroundhk.com . HK Underground. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} Debitto in Japan: Debitto in Japan - Interviewing Ladybeard . YouTube . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
13. ↑ ^{a b} The Expat- Richard "Lady Beard" Magarey . YouTube . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Vincent Grundke: "WITH A TEN-YEAR-OLD THAT IS NOT A PEDOPHILIA, BUT A LOLITA COMPLEX" —LADYBABY IN AN INTERVIEW . NOISEY . Retrieved May 30, 2016.
15. ↑ Elliott Samuels: Ladybeard: 'Once you have decided exactly what you want to do, do it with everything you've got' . The Japan Times. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
16. ↑ LADYBABY . ORICON STYLE . Retrieved May 30, 2016.