Polly Filla

Pollyfilla AKA Colin McLean is one of New Zealand’s foremost drag queens. In a career that has now lasted for over 20 years, she has devised and performed sell-out live shows, been hailed as a “Wellington icon” by the city’s mayor, hosted various pageants, acted as the mistress of ceremonies at the annual Wellington Gay and Lesbian Fair, appeared in films and television shows. For the last 15 years, she has resided in Melbourne, Australia, where she has continued to build her reputation and entertain crowds with stunning live shows. Australians have taken Polyfilla to their hearts, and in 2018, she was inducted into the Melbourne Drag Awards Hall of Fame.

McLean was born in Wellington in 1978. He began performing in drag after dropping out of college and getting a job with the mail service. Short on money, he made his own costumes, and as they became more complex, he enrolled at Wellington Polytechnic to study fashion. Before long, however, he’d dropped out and instead furthered his design skills at the Bowerman School of Design. After a short spell working in a fancy dress shop, he took the plunge and became a freestyle costume designer and drag performer.

After moving to Melbourne, Polyfilla joined one of the city’s leading drag troupes, New Sensation. When they disbanded, she found plenty of work on the drag circuit, first starring in a production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and soon developing popular shows of her own, including Sex and the City (a show designed to tie in with the release of the film of the same name) and Pollywood.