Maya the Drag Queen

Some Lesser Known Facts About Maya The Drag Queen

• Alex Mathew belongs to a Christian family hailing from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

  

• His family was settled in Kochi until he was 17, and then they shifted to Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• He has been interested in theatre since his childhood days.

• He encountered significant challenges in establishing himself as a theatre actor when certain associates believed his portrayal of characters was too feminine.

• He was inspired by the characters Mrs Doubtfire played by Robin Williams in the film “Mrs Doubtfire” (1993) and the character played by Kamal Haasan in “Avvai Shanmugi” (1996).

• After learning about Dame Edna in the UK, RuPaul in the USA, and Queen Harish in India, he got interested in drag performances.

• His first drag Performance was at the Humming Tree, Bengaluru in September 2014.

• His drag persona is named Mayamma, which means ‘the mother of illusions or magic’.

  

• He works as a Public Relations (PR) and marketing executive during the daytime and performs as Maya the Drag Queen at the Kitty Ko Night Club in Bengaluru.

  

• He has attended several TEDx events as a speaker.

  

• He came out about his sexual orientation as gay a few months after doing his debut drag performance.

• He informed his parents through an email to which his parents initially responded negatively. They later understood his point of view and offered their support to him.

• After coming out in the open, he faced many challenges in his professional and personal life.

• He has conducted classes in various schools regarding the LGBTQIA+ community and drag as an art form.

  

• His signature style of addressing his audience is Ente Kutties and Kuttans in Malayalam which translates to an informal way of saying, My boys and girls.

• In an interview, he expressed his desire to open a school for needy children.