Roy R. Haylock (born June 27, 1975), better known by the stage nameBianca del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. He is known for winning the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since his time on Drag Race, Haylock has written and toured several stand-up shows, including It's Jester Joke (2019), which also made him the first drag queen to headline at Wembley Arena. He has also performed as a host for various international tours, most notably Werq the World. In 2018, he published his first book, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert On Nothing With An Opinion On Everything. In 2026 Bianca was announced as a contestant on the 6th season of The Traitors.
Early life
Roy R. Haylock was born on June 27, 1975, and was raised in Gretna, Louisiana. He grew up Catholic. He is of Cuban descent on his mother's side and Honduran descent on his father's side. He is the fourth of five children.
He started acting and designing costumes for plays at West Jefferson High School. After high school, he decided to move to New York City, where he worked at Bloomingdale's for nine months before returning to Louisiana.
Career
Early career
Bianca Del Rio at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2018
Haylock began his career as a costume designer in New Orleans while still a teenager. In 1993, at age 17, he won a Big Easy Entertainment Award for Best Costume Design for Snow Queen, the first of 13 nominations he would receive for costume design, winning six of those awards. He also designed costumes for the New Orleans Opera.
In 1996, Haylock began performing in drag after appearing in the play Pageant. Local drag queen Lisa Beaumann saw him in the production and subsequently cast him in performances at the New Orleans nightclub Oz. He won the New Orleans Gay Entertainer of the Year title for three consecutive years. In 2001, Bianca Del Rio was selected as co-grand marshal of the 29th Southern Decadence celebration, alongside Pat "Estelle" Ritter and Rick Thomas.
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Haylock relocated to New York City, where he continued working as a costume designer for theatre, ballet, and opera productions, including with Barbara Matera, Ltd. He also continued performing in drag, appearing in cabaret with Lady Bunny at XL Nightclub and in comedy roasts, including one featuring Patricia Krentcil, better known as "Tan Mom".
By 2010, Haylock had expanded into television and online media. He appeared in the web series Queens of Drag: NYC in 2010, Logo TV's stand-up special One Night Stand Up: Dragtastic! NYC in 2011, and the variety series She's Living for This in 2012. That same year, he appeared on the cover of the New York-based LGBTQ magazine Next's Summer Yearbook issue.
RuPaul's Drag Race
In December 2013, Logo TV announced that Haylock was one of 14 contestants selected to compete on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, an American reality competition series.[citation needed]
Over the course of the competition, Haylock never placed low or in the bottom in any challenge and never had to lip sync for her life, advancing to the three-person finale.[citation needed] On May 19, 2014, Haylock was crowned the winner of the sixth season, defeating fellow finalists Adore Delano and Courtney Act.[citation needed]
At the time of her victory, Haylock became the second winner and fourth contestant in the franchise to reach the finale without lip syncing for her life. She was also the first contestant in the history of the series to complete the competition without ever placing low or in the bottom of a challenge, and the first contestant of Hispanic descent to win the American edition of RuPaul's Drag Race.[citation needed]
Following her victory, Haylock made numerous guest appearances across the Drag Race franchise. She appeared by video message on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, returned as a guest on the eighth and tenth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, and appeared as a fake Lip Sync Assassin on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
After relocating to New York City following Hurricane Katrina, Haylock returned to the New Orleans stage to appear in the first regional production of Rent following the musical's initial Broadway closing. He played Angel opposite Christopher Bentivegna as Collins at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.
In 2019, Haylock appeared as retired drag queen Hugo Battersby, also known as Loco Chanelle, in Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End. Later that year, it was announced that she would reprise the role for a 12-week engagement beginning on December 9.
Between 2021 and 2022, Haylock reprised the role on selected dates during the UK tour of Everybody's Talking About Jamie. Later in 2022, she reprised the role in the North American premiere of the production at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
Haylock's film career expanded after his success on RuPaul's Drag Race, beginning with his first leading role in Matt Kugelman's comedy Hurricane Bianca in 2016. He starred as teacher Richard Martinez and his drag alter ego Bianca Del Rio, a gay schoolteacher who reinvents himself as a sharp-tongued drag queen after being fired from a small Texas high school. Hurricane Bianca featured an ensemble cast that included Rachel Dratch, Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, RuPaul, and several contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race.
Haylock reprised the role in Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate in 2018, which reunited much of the original cast while taking the story overseas. In 2019, he said that a third installment was in development, although it had not entered production as of 2026.
After the Hurricane Bianca films, Haylock appeared as himself in the 2020 documentary Workhorse Queen, which follows fellow RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Mrs. Kasha Davis. In 2021, he made a cameo as Miss Haylock in the film adaptation of Everybody's Talking About Jamie, with the character's surname serving as a reference to his own.
In 2012, Haylock appeared on the variety series She's Living for This, hosted by Sherry Vine, and was featured on the cover of Next's Summer Yearbook issue.
Following her success on Drag Race, Haylock has written and toured several stand-up shows, including The Rolodex of Hate (2014), Not Today Satan (2015–16), Blame It On Bianca Del Rio (2017–2018), It's Jester Joke (2019), which also made her the first drag queen to headline Wembley Arena, and Unsanitized (2021-2022).
She has also performed as a host on the Werq the World tour alongside other Drag Race queens.
In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed Haylock first on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former RuPaul's Drag Race contestants.
Haylock co-crafted with puzzle editor Christina Iverson the bonus crossword puzzle for The New York Times for June 2026.
↑"Roy R Haylock". Ancestry Institute. Ancestry. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
↑Hall, Margaret (November 26, 2025). "Bianca Del Rio Takes a Bite Out of Off-Broadway". Playbill. Archived from the original on January 17, 2026. Retrieved May 13, 2026. World famous drag queen Bianca Del Rio, aka experienced Broadway costumer Roy Haylock, has returned to New York City after a 15-year whirlwind.
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