Anania Williams, known as Anania, is an internet personality, performance artist, and host of the digital quiz show Gaydar.
Anania grew up in Davenport, Iowa. Her difficult childhood included abuse at home and bullying in school. She sang in the choir at her church as well as in show choir at Davenport Central High School. In 2022, Anania completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater with a minor in social justice at Emerson College. Anania is genderqueer and trans and uses they/she pronouns.
Anania first posted on TikTok in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her early content included posts about politics, including the Black Lives Matter protests. In her viral "Gen Z as" series, she joked about how Gen Z acts in various careers. She later began posting videos about make up and drag. As she posted more about her experience as a trans and genderqueer person, Anania was subjected to online bullying. She has stated that the harassment stems from the fact that she does not meet the standard of a "very specific, stereotypical, western, white, skinny type of trans person". In January 2023, Anania tweeted "behind every gay person is a gayer, more evil gay person". The tweet went viral and started a trend of users posting their favorite queer villain duos, such as Eve and Villanelle in Killing Eve. That year she moved to New York.
By the end of 2020, Anania had signed with a talent management company. In July 2021, Anania had about 2 million followers on TikTok; by September 2025, she had 2.4 million. Anania was recognized on the 2024 INTO "25 Under 25" list which stated: "As a Black queer influencer and drag artist, they never shy away from the difficult issues facing queer folks â but their sense of humor is top-notch, too."
Mutuals Media, a digital media network, recruited Anania as the host for their new show that aimed to be both funny and educational. In July 2024, the network launched Gaydar, a quiz show about queer culture. Based on guests' answers to questions, Anania attempts to guess whether they are "straight, gay or a homophobe". The show's first participants were strangers on the street in New York City, but later episodes have featured public figures such as Reneé Rapp, Lucy Dacus, and Vivian Jenna Wilson. In one episode, Anania asked Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer about her favorite gay bars in Lansing; in another episode, she asked singer Chappell Roan about what music album "made [her] gay".
In a Gaydar episode during the 2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary race, candidate Zohran Mamdani incorrectly guessed the meaning of the acronym "WLW" and was able to name a New York City gay bar. Anania concluded he is straight but "one of the good ones" and told her viewers to vote for him. By the time the election was held the following month, the video had gone viral, receiving 2.5 million views. The episode has been cited in articles about Mamdani's successful use of social media to market his campaign.
Gaydar is posted to social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and has had over 120 million views in less than a year. In June 2025, Lucy Dacus gave Anania the fictional "Women in STEM Award for Advancements in Gaydar Technology" as part of a THEM magazine project. The show was given âÂÂSpecial Recognitionâ by the GLAAD Media Awards in 2026.
Anania performs in musical theater. In August 2023, she played the role of Lola in a community theater production of Kinky Boots in Chicago. One reviewer called her "magnetic". In Fall 2025, she played Heaven in a New York Theater Workshop production of Saturday Church, a musical about an outreach program for queer youth. She referred to the show as "queer, Black joy". After seeing her performance, director Sam Pinkleton cast her in his Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
As a drag artist, she has opened for Chappell Roan and Bob the Drag Queen. According to Bob the Drag Queen, she is "the future of drag". Anania has referred to herself as "more than a drag queen" and "an actor that does drag".