Mariah Paris Balenciaga


Mariah Paris Balenciaga, or simply known as Mariah, is the stage name of Elijah Kelly, an American drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

Early life

Kelly was born on February 13, 1981 in Gainesville, Georgia. He later moved to Atlanta when he was 19, and started doing drag in the ballroom scene. He is biracial.

Career

Balenciaga was announced as one of thirteen contestants for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2011. She was eliminated in the sixth episode after losing a lip sync to "Looking for a New Love" by Jody Watley against Delta Work. In 2018, she appeared with other Drag Race alumni for the first mini challenge of season ten. She asked a viewer question to Eureka O'Hara during the season ten finale episode. She appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season eleven of Drag Race. Balenciaga was also a drag professor for the second and third season of RuPaul's Drag U in 2011 and 2012.
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. 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.
Balenciaga was with other Drag Race alumni for an episode of Skin Wars in 2015. She was one of the performers for Phi Phi O'Hara's benefit show for the hurricane in Puerto Rico.
She was one of the background dancers for Miley Cyrus's 2015 VMA performance. 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. She was a backup dancer for Lip Sync Battle again in 2019 for Nico Tortorella.
In August 2019, she was featured in Women's Wear Daily magazine, alongside Kimora Blac, Mayhem Miller, and Kameron Michaels.
In 2020, Balenciaga returned for the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All stars, placing 8th overall.

Music

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

Discography

EPs

Singles
As Featured Artist
TitleYearAlbum
"I'm in Love"
2020

Filmography

Television

Web series

Music videos