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Mariah Paris Balenciaga
Balenciaga at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2024
Born
Elijah A. Kelly[1]

(1981-02-13) February 13, 1981 (age 43)
Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.
OccupationDrag queen
Years active1999–present
Known for

Mariah Paris Balenciaga, also simply known as Mariah or Mariah Balenciaga, is the stage name of Elijah A. Kelly (born February 13, 1981),[2] an American drag queen, ball performer, and television personality, best known for competing on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2011) and the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2020).[3] Since appearing on the show, she has been featured in a number of web series produced by World of Wonder, such as Wait, What?, Transformations, and Fashion Photo RuView. Balenciaga released her first single, "Mug 4 Dayz", on November 19, 2013.

Early life

[edit]

Kelly was born on February 13, 1982, in Gainesville, Georgia. She later moved to Atlanta when she was 19, and started doing drag in the ballroom scene, becoming a founding member of the House of Balenciaga.[4] She is biracial.[5][6]

Career

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Balenciaga was announced as one of thirteen contestants for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2011.[7] She was eliminated in the sixth episode after losing a lip sync to "Looking for a New Love" by Jody Watley against Delta Work.[8] In 2018, she appeared with other Drag Race alumni for the first mini challenge of season ten.[9] She asked a viewer question to Eureka O'Hara during the season ten finale episode.[10] She appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season eleven of Drag Race.[11] Balenciaga was also a drag professor for the second and third season of RuPaul's Drag U in 2011 and 2012.[12]

Outside of Drag Race, she makes guest appearances for the WOWPresents Internet series "Fashion Photo RuView" filling in for either Raja or Raven, reviewing looks from Drag Race alumni. Her first appearance was on June 9, 2016.[13] She also makes recurring appearances on another WOW series, "Wait, What?" as the co-host to Kimora Blac, where they answer trivia questions. Her first appearance was in the debut episode.[14]

Balenciaga was with other Drag Race alumni for an episode of Skin Wars in 2015.[15] She was one of the performers for Phi Phi O'Hara's benefit show for the hurricane in Puerto Rico.[16][17]

She was one of the background dancers for Miley Cyrus's 2015 VMA performance.[18] She was a background dancer again, playing as one of the Spice Girls for Rita Ora on an episode of Lip Sync Battle in March 2018.[19] She was a backup dancer for Lip Sync Battle again in 2019 for Nico Tortorella.[20]

In August 2019, she was featured in Women's Wear Daily magazine, alongside Kimora Blac, Mayhem Miller, and Kameron Michaels.[21]

In 2020, Balenciaga returned for the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, placing 8th overall. Her performance in the first episode was praised for raising awareness of systemic racism and prejudice, made particularly timely in wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Balenciaga was even given a shoutout by current guest judge Ricky Martin for her performance.[22][23]

In September 2020, Balenciaga was featured alongside many other black RuPaul's Drag Race alum in a "Stop The Racism" PSA, speaking out against toxic, racist fans within the Drag Race community.[24]

She was a featured performer during Jennifer Lopez's performance at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards.[25]

Music

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Balenciaga released her first single, "Mug 4 Dayz", on November 19, 2013.[26] A remix EP of the song was released on April 11, 2014.[27] Balenciaga appeared in the music video for Pandora Boxx's "Oops I Think I Pooped" on September 24, 2018.[28] She appeared in a music video for Lizzo's song "Juice" on April 17, 2019.[29] She appeared in a music video for pop duo Aly & AJ's song "Star Maps" on June 12, 2019.[30]

Discography

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EPs

[edit]
Title Details
Mug 4 Dayz Stone Cold Remixes

Singles

Year Song
2013 "Mug 4 Dayz"
2020 "Stains on the Wall"

As Featured Artist

Title Year Album
"I'm in Love"[31]
(with the Cast of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, Season 5) 		2020 Non-album single

Filmography

[edit]

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
2011 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 3) Herself Contestant (9th place)
2011 RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked
2011-12 RuPaul's Drag U [32]
2015 Skin Wars Season 2 - episode 4 [33]
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10) Guest - Episode 1 [34]
2018 Lip Sync Battle Backup dancer [19]
2018 The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Drag Queen Cameo role - episode 2
2019 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 11) Herself Guest - Episode 1 [35]
2019 Lip Sync Battle Herself Background dancer [20]
2020 AJ and the Queen Herself Guest appearance [36]
2020 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 5) Herself Contestant (8th place) [3]
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked (season 2) [37]
2021 The Browns Herself Guest appearance [38]

Web series

[edit]
Year Title Role Ref.
2014 Transformations Herself [39]
2015 Rooftop Lipsync [40]
2015-2019 Drag Queens React [41]
2016–19 Fashion Photo RuView
Wait, What?
2017 M.U.G. [42]
Spilling the Tea [43]
2018 Cosmo Queens [44]
2019 Wigs in a Blanket [45]
Bootleg Opinions [46]
Follow Me [5]
Iconic [47]
Reading Queens [48]
2019-23 The Pit Stop [49][50]
2020 Whatcha Packin' [51]
2021 Hey Qween! [52]
2023 Binge Queens: Drag Race Mexico [53]

Music videos

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Year Title Artist
2016 Expensive[54] Todrick Hall
2017 Expensive (Deluxe Version) Todrick Hall
Stun[55] Alaska ft. Gia Gunn
2018 Oops I Think I Pooped[56] Pandora Boxx
Excuse The Beauty Latrice Royale
Girly[57] John Duff
2019 Juice Lizzo
Star Maps Aly & AJ

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Elijah A Kelly". Ancestry Institute. Ancestry. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  2. ^ "Mariah Paris Balenciaga "It Gets Better!"". Abby Normal. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  3. ^ a b Adam B. Vary (May 8, 2020). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Moves Back to VH1 From Showtime, Reveals Cast". Variety. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "Mariah Balenciaga". Grizzly Kiki. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  5. ^ a b WOWPresents (2019-05-06), FOLLOW ME: Mariah Balenciaga, archived from the original on February 11, 2021, retrieved 2019-05-10
  6. ^ Cook, Michael (June 24, 2020). "The Queen of The Ballroom – Mariah Balenciaga Talks Returning For "All-Stars" & What We May Not Know About The Ballroom Scene". Instinct. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  7. ^ "Alexis Mateo: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3 Contestant - RuPaul's Drag Race (Video Clip) | LOGOtv". Logo TV. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  8. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race': How 'Precious' was Stacy Layne Matthews last night?". EW.com. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  9. ^ "RuPaul Brings Back Katya, Porkchop, Kim Chi, Jujubee, Detox, and More to Help Judge the First Mini-Challenge of Season 10". VH1 News. Archived from the original on May 15, 2023. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  10. ^ Club, The A.V. "The A.V. Club convenes its own judges' panel for the RuPaul's Drag Race season-10 finale". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  11. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' 11 episode 1 recap: Which queen was sent packing on 'Whatcha Unpackin'? [UPDATING LIVE BLOG]". Goldderby. 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
  12. ^ Gascot, John (2011-07-27). "RuPaul's Drag U: Professor Mariah". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  13. ^ WOWPresents (2016-06-09), RuPaul's Drag Race Fashion Photo RuView with Raja and Mariah Balenciaga: Social Media Ep 39, retrieved 2018-09-09
  14. ^ "Wait, What?". WOW Presents Plus. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  15. ^ "Skin Wars season 2 episode 4 recap: Drag Queens are here!". Channel Guide Magazine. 2015-07-08. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  16. ^ "The "Drag Race" Queens Are Going All Out To Raise Money For Puerto Rico". LOGO News. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  17. ^ Cook, Michael (2017-10-28). "Queens United/Reinas Unitas-The Ladies of "RuPaul's Drag Race" Hit The Stage For The People Of Puerto Rico!". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  18. ^ "Meet All 30 Of Miley's Day-Glo Dancers From Her Insane VMA Performance". MTV News. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  19. ^ a b Lip Sync Battle (2018-03-29), Charli XCX's "Shape of You" vs. Rita Ora's "Wannabe" | Lip Sync Battle, retrieved 2018-09-09
  20. ^ a b "WATCH: 'Younger' Star Nico Tortorella Stunned as Ariana Grande on 'Lip Sync Battle' • Instinct Magazine". Instinct Magazine. 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  21. ^ "How Drag Queens Broke Through the Beauty Barrier". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  22. ^ Blanton, Kayla (June 5, 2020). "The 'All Stars' 5 Premiere Included A Powerful Performance About Systemic Racism". Bustle. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  23. ^ Smith, Reiss (June 24, 2020). "Drag Race legend Mariah Paris Balenciaga reveals she was 'cringing' over All Stars lip sync". PinkNews. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  24. ^ Reynolds, Daniel (September 22, 2020). "Black Drag Race Stars Urge Fans to 'Stop the Racism' in PSA". The Advocate. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  25. ^ Ermac, Raffy (March 23, 2022). "Drag Race Queens Paid Tribute To Jennifer Lopez At Her iHeartRadio Music Awards Performance". Out.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  26. ^ Mug 4 Dayz - Single by Mariah Balenciaga, 2013-11-19, retrieved 2018-09-09
  27. ^ Mug 4 Dayz Stone Cold Remixes by Mariah Balenciaga, 2014-04-11, retrieved 2018-09-09
  28. ^ Pandora Boxx (2018-09-24), Pandora Boxx - Oops I Think I Pooped (Official Video), retrieved 2018-09-24
  29. ^ "Lizzo - JUICE Music Video feat. RuPaul's Drag Race Queens". YouTube. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  30. ^ Huff, Lauren (June 12, 2019). "Watch Aly & AJ's 'Star Maps' music video featuring stars from Shameless, Drag Race, Silicon Valley, The Goldbergs, and more". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  31. ^ "I'm In Love - Single". iTunes.
  32. ^ Gascot, John (July 27, 2011). "RuPaul's Drag U: Professor Mariah". Huff Post. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  33. ^ Boulet, Ruth (2015-07-08). "Skin Wars season 2 episode 4 recap: The Drag Queens are here!". Channel Guide Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  34. ^ Damshenas, Sam (22 March 2018). "Watch Drag Race fan favourites return for the season 10 premiere". Gay Times. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  35. ^ O’Keeffe, Kevin (28 February 2019). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 11 premiere recap: Queens here, queens there, queens everywhere". Xtra.
  36. ^ Nolfi, Joey (2019-12-03). "RuPaul brings 22 Drag Race queens to costar on AJ and the Queen". EW.com. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  37. ^ Dino-Ray Ramos (June 8, 2020). "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Brings Back 'Untucked' Aftershow For Season 5". Deadline. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  38. ^ Patterson, Denny (November 11, 2021). "'The Browns' Are Back in Town with a Second Season". Out Front Magazine. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  39. ^ WOWPresents (2014-09-16), James St. James and Mariah Balenciaga: Transformations, archived from the original on January 12, 2021, retrieved 2019-09-21
  40. ^ WOWPresents (2015-07-09), Mariah Balenciaga & Jaidynn Diore Fierce in Morgan McMichaels' Rooftop Lipsync, archived from the original on November 19, 2020, retrieved 2019-09-21
  41. ^ WOWPresents (2015-06-24), Part 2 | Drag Queens Reading Mean Comments w/ Alaska, Raja, Raven, Milk, Morgan, and More!, retrieved 2019-10-23
  42. ^ WOWPresents (2017-02-09), M.U.G. with Kim Chi & Mariah Balenciaga - First Timer Mistakes, archived from the original on November 20, 2020, retrieved 2019-05-10
  43. ^ WOWPresents (2017-06-27), Spilling The Tea: The Queens Kiki on Gay Dating Apps & Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way: Billboard, archived from the original on November 25, 2021, retrieved 2019-08-02
  44. ^ Cosmopolitan (2018-10-11), Mariah Balenciaga | Cosmo Drag Queens | Cosmopolitan, archived from the original on July 3, 2020, retrieved 2019-05-10
  45. ^ Producer Entertainment Group/PEG (February 26, 2019), Chicken Adobo You Betta Don't | Wigs In A Blanket - Episode 4, archived from the original on June 30, 2021, retrieved June 26, 2021
  46. ^ Yuhua Hamasaki (April 1, 2019), MARIAH BALENCIAGA joins BOOTLEG FASHION PHOTO RUVIEW: Season 11 Episode 5!, archived from the original on November 21, 2020, retrieved April 11, 2020
  47. ^ WOWPresents (2019-06-25), ICONIC with Brad Goreski: Mariah Balenciaga, retrieved 2019-08-02
  48. ^ WOWPresents (2019-06-06), Mariah Balenciaga: Reading Queens with Psychic Char Margolis, archived from the original on July 1, 2020, retrieved 2019-09-14
  49. ^ Voss, Brandon (2019-04-13). "Mariah Balenciaga and Manila Luzon Have Thoughts About This Week's "RuPaul's Drag Race"". NewNowNext.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  50. ^ Youtube (2023-02-04), The Pit Stop S15 E06 🏁 | Bianca Del Rio & Mariah Are Golden! | RuPaul's Drag Race S15, archived from the original on February 11, 2021, retrieved 2023-02-07
  51. ^ WOWPresents (June 19, 2020), Whatcha Packin': SPOILER ALERT! | S5 E3 | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, retrieved June 20, 2020
  52. ^ Hey Qween (January 25, 2021), MARIAH BALENCIAGA on Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern- Part 1, archived from the original on February 16, 2021, retrieved January 25, 2021
  53. ^ SNEAK PEEK - Binge Queens: Drag Race Mexico, airing Tuesdays only on WOW Presents Plus!. WOW Presents. June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  54. ^ Tharrett, Matthew (2016-07-21). "Kim Chi, Willam, Mariah, Alaska And Laganja Get "Expensive" With Todrick Hall". NewNowNext.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  55. ^ Hill, Leigh (February 28, 2017). "Alaska and Gia Gunn feel their oats in new music video Stun". OutInPerth. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  56. ^ Bote, Joshua (2018-09-24). "Pandora Boxx Lets it Rip With Alaska, Jasmine Masters and More in Epic Katy Perry Parody: Watch". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  57. ^ Horbelt, Stephan (2018-08-24). "This 'Girly' Pop Singer Just Re-Created Some of Your Favorite Female-Fronted Music Videos". Hornet. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
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