Ilona Verley

Ilona Verley is a Canadian-American[2] drag queen most known for competing on the first season of Canada's Drag Race.[2]

Ilona Verley
Born1994/1995 (age 25–26)[1]
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanada, United States
TelevisionCanada's Drag Race

Early life

Verley was raised in Surrey, British Columbia.[1] She attended the Blanche MacDonald Centre in Vancouver for make-up artistry.[3]

Career

Verley competed on the first season of Canada's Drag Race, a reality competition television series based on the American series RuPaul's Drag Race and the Canadian edition of the Drag Race franchise. Prior to her appearance on the show, she had auditioned in Los Angeles for the eleventh and twelfth seasons of American version.[1][4][5] She became the "first Indigenous, two-spirit, and openly non-binary queen" to compete.[6] On Canada's Drag Race, Verley placed in the bottom two on three occasions and was eliminated in the seventh episode.[7][8] She has also worked at a NYX Professional Makeup store.[9]

In October 2020, Verley was announced as one of the performers at the opening gala of the 2020 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.[10]

In November, Verley was named to Out magazine's annual Out100 list of influential LGBTQ personalities.[2]

Personal life

Verley is Nlaka'pamux and two-spirit, and has said she identifies as a "proud, Indigenous trans woman".[1] She has described her gender identity as fluid and in flux. In November 2020 she stated: "I don't want to put my foot down too much with any label. Because who knows, in a few months from now, when I'm in a better mind-set or a better situation, how I'm going to feel".[2] On the LGBTQ&A podcast in the same month, Verley said "I think for me right now, the best way to describe who I am right now in this moment is nonbinary and gender fluid."[11]

She lives in Vancouver as of October 2020,[9] having returned to Canada after living in Los Angeles.[3] In 2020, she accused NYX Professional Makeup of cultural insensitivity.[9]

References
  1. Allaire, Christian (August 31, 2020). "Indigenous Queen Ilona Verley On Bringing Two-Spirit Representation to Canada's Drag Race". Vogue. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  2. "Ilona Verley, Drag Race's Two-Spirit Queen". Out. November 19, 2020.
  3. "Canada's Drag Race: Things You Didn't Know About The Queens". ScreenRant. July 18, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  4. "Canada's Drag Race: Indigenous drag queen Ilona Verley from Vancouver makes a splash in Vogue". The Georgia Straight. September 11, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  5. "Canada's Drag Race: Vancouver queen Ilona Verley on Indigenous representation and that ass critique". The Georgia Straight. August 14, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  6. Rudolph, Christopher. "Why Ilona Verley Almost Quit "Canada's Drag Race"". LOGO News. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  7. "Canada's Drag Race star Ilona Verley on being the first Indigenous two-spirit queen to bring it to the runway". PinkNews. August 18, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  8. "Ilona Verley Is 1st 'Canada's Drag Race' Queen To Get The Vogue Treatment". HuffPost Canada. September 3, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  9. "A 'Canada's Drag Race' Queen Is Calling Out An Offensive Nyx Makeup Tutorial". HuffPost Canada. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  10. "Tantoo Cardinal, Ilona Verley, Lorne Cardinal at imagineNATIVE 2020". Muskrat Magazine, October 14, 2020.
  11. Masters, Jeffrey (November 24, 2020). "Ilona Verley: 'Drag Race's' Two-Spirit Queen Says 'F*ck Gender'". Advocate. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
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