Laila McQueen is the stage name of Tyler Devlin, a drag performer and

make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...

based in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

. McQueen competed on

season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'' in 2016. She has won a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

as a make-up artist for the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

reality series ''

We're Here ''We're Here'' is a HBO reality television series featuring former ''Drag Race'' contestants, documenting the drag queens as they travel across the United States to recruit small-town residents to participate in one-night-only drag shows. The sh ...

''.

Early life

Devlin was born in

to Cathy and Michael Devlin. McQueen was artistic in school, which led to bullying from her peers. She started cross dressing in high school at age 15 to ignore the bullying and to showcase her creative outlet before doing drag as a career at 18. She graduated from Gloucester High School in 2011. When asked about describing her drag, McQueen said "I'm an idiot, I'm such an idiot. I just like to have fun and for other people to have fun, too. I started doing drag from a negative place to replace those feelings. I've always wanted to be a rock star and this is my way to express that, and I'm an artist above all else. Drag gave me an extension to capture those dreams you didn't think would happen, and I've gotten a lot of things I never thought I'd be able to." Laila moved to

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

in 2011 to attend art school and graduated from New Hampshire Institute of Art in 2015, before she moved back to Gloucester.

Career

In 2016, McQueen was cast for season 8 of ''

''. On the first episode, she placed in the bottom with

Naysha Lopez Naysha Lopez is the stage name of drag performer and beauty pageant winner Fabian Rodriguez (born June 20, 1984), who won the 2013 Miss Continental competition and appeared on the eighth seasons of both ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and ''RuPaul's Drag ...

and won a lip sync to "

Applause Applause (Latin '','' to strike upon, clap) is primarily a form of ovation or praise expressed by the act of clapping, or striking the palms of the hands together. Audiences usually applaud after a performance, such as a concert, speech or ...

" by

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

. On the

second episode "Second Episode" is the second episode of the HBO television series ''The New Pope''. The episode was directed by series creator Paolo Sorrentino and was written by Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contrarello, and Stefano Bises. The episode takes plac ...

, she placed in the bottom again with Dax ExclamationPoint. Both were eliminated after a lip sync to "

I Will Survive "I Will Survive" is a song recorded by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 by Polydor Records as the second single from her sixth album, ''Love Tracks (Gloria Gaynor album), Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Pe ...

" by

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

. McQueen has said she wanted to impersonate

Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson (born August 10, 1942) is an American fashion designer best known for her colorful, cute and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished. She also is known for doing a cartwheel ending ...

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, Love has had a career spanning four decades. She rose to promi ...

, or

Theresa Caputo Theresa Caputo (born June 10, 1967) is an American alleged psychic medium, best known for her TLC reality television series '' Long Island Medium''. Early life Caputo, the daughter of Nicholas and Veronica Brigandi, was born and raised in ...

for the

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a comedy challenge recurring across the ''Drag Race'' television franchise and a fixture of the reality competition series. Since the second season of the original American ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' series in 2010, the challenge ha ...

challenge. After ''Drag Race'', she worked as a

from ''

RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race ''RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race'' (often abbreviated as RSCDR) is an American reality competition series that premiered April 24, 2020 on VH1. A spin-off of the television series, celebrities competing for their chosen charity, mentored by ...

'' with

Shannel Bryan Watkins, known by his stage name Shannel (born July 3, 1979), is an American drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race season 1, first season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and later the RuPaul's ...

and Mayhem Miller. McQueen did make-up for

Jordan Connor Jordan Connor Yuen (born 17 September 1991) is a Canadian actor. He plays Sweet Pea in the television series ''Riverdale''. He has also appeared in ''Looking for Alaska'', '' Hospital Show'' and ''Nurses''. Early life Connor was born in Calg ...

on the show. Later on, she also did make-up for the cast of ''

''. In 2022, McQueen won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program for her work on the episode "Kona, Hawaii".

Personal life

McQueen has a sensory-based disorder called

misophonia Misophonia (or selective sound sensitivity syndrome) is a disorder of decreased Distress tolerance, tolerance to specific sounds or their associated Stimulus (psychology), stimuli, or cues. These cues, known as "triggers", are experienced as Dis ...

. She has lived in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, since 2017, but works in many locations. When she was 19, she was banned from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

for a performance that involved a Bible being covered in blood.

References

External links

* {{RuPaul's Drag Race 1993 births Living people 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people American drag queens American make-up artists LGBTQ people from Massachusetts LGBTQ people from New Hampshire Primetime Emmy Award winners

Laila McQueen Laila McQueen is the stage name of Tyler Devlin, a drag performer and make-up artist based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. McQueen competed on season 8 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' in 2016. She has won a Primetime Emmy Award as a make-up artist for t ...

Drag performers from New Hampshire Drag performers from Massachusetts Drag performers from Chicago