Uelese was born in Wellington, New Zealand, where he started playing rugby for the Oriental Rongotai club.

[2] He moved with his family to Melbourne at the age of eleven [3] and attended Marymede Catholic College in South Morang, before moving in 2013 to St. Kevin's College in Toorak on a rugby scholarship.

As a teenageer he was a loose forward before switching to hooker,[4] the position he played for the Rebels Under-20 side in the National Championships.

[4] Uelese was selected for the Australia Under 20 team two years in a row, playing at the World Rugby Championships in Manchester in 2016 and then in Georgia in 2017.

In September 2017 he made his debut for Australia against the Springboks in a 23–23 draw at nib Stadium in Perth.