Roy Haylock, better known by his stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American actor, comedian, costume designer, and drag queen. He is a fixture in the New Orleans and New York City club scenes, often working with Lady Bunny, and is also known as the winner of the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Early life

Haylock grew up in Gretna, Louisiana. He is of Cuban and Honduran descent and is the fourth of five children. He started acting and designing costumes for plays at West Jefferson High School. After high school, Haylock moved to New York City and worked at Bloomingdale's for nine months, but later returned to Louisiana.[1]

Career

Haylock has primarily worked as a costume designer. In 1993, he won a Big Easy Entertainment Award for Best Costume Design for Snow Queen at the age of 17.[1] He has been nominated for 13 Big Easy Entertainment Awards for costume design, winning six. Del Rio has also made costumes for New Orleans Opera.[2]

In New Orleans, Bianca Del Rio started doing drag in 1996 for the play Pageant.[3][4] The local drag queen Lisa Beaumann saw him in the play and later put him in shows at the nightclub Oz.[1] As a drag queen, he won the New Orleans Gay Entertainer of the Year for three years.[2][5]

In 2001, Bianca Del Rio was selected as co-Grand Marshall, with Pat "Estelle" Ritter and Rick Thomas for Southern Decadence XXIX. [6]

2005–present: Move to New York

Haylock moved to New York City after Hurricane Katrina.[7] In addition to drag, Del Rio is a costume designer for Broadway shows, having worked for Barbara Matera, Ltd.[4][8] Del Rio performs weekly in a cabaret with Lady Bunny at XL Nightclub. Notable events include a roast of Patricia Krentcil, better known as "Tan Mom."[9][10]

Del Rio starred in the first regional production of Rent (following its initial Broadway closing) at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans, playing the role of 'Angel' opposite Christopher Bentivegna as Collins.

Del Rio was featured in the web series Queens of Drag: NYC by gay.com in 2010. The series featured fellow New York drag queens Dallas DuBois, Hedda Lettuce, Lady Bunny, Mimi Imfurst, Peppermint, and Sherry Vine.[11] In 2011, Del Rio appeared on One Night Stand Up: Dragtastic! NYC by Logo TV. The episode was filmed live at the Bowery Ballroom and was hosted by Pandora Boxx.[12]

He appeared on the cover of Next for their Summer Yearbook 2012 issue.[13] On September 4, 2012, Del Rio and Lady Bunny released "Let's Have a Kai Kai!," a parody of the song "Let's Have a Kiki" by the Scissor Sisters.[14] Rio also appeared on the variety show She's Living for This, hosted by Sherry Vine, in 2012.[15]

In 2013, Del Rio was announced to be a part of the film Hurricane Bianca. An Indiegogo campaign was made for the film and was sponsored by Fractured Atlas, a non-profit art services organization in New York City.[16] The film is set to be directed by Matt Kugelman, who works as an editor on CBS This Morning.[17]

In December 2013, Logo announced that Bianca Del Rio was among 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. She quickly became a front-runner amongst the contestants and eventually became part of the final three. In addition, Del Rio won three challenges along the way (tied for the most with Adore Delano) and became part of a small group of contestants to make it to the final three without ever having to lip-sync for the judges. Del Rio also became the first contestant to navigate the entire competition without ever being scored as one of the weakest contestants in any week.

On May 19, 2014 Bianca was crowned the Winner of Season 6 of Rupaul's Drag Race. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.