Billy Porter
William Ellis Porter II (born September 21, 1969) is an American actor and singer.[2][3] Porter gained notice performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor.[4]
For other people named Billy Porter, see Billy Porter (disambiguation).
Billy Porter
- Actor
- singer
- writer
1992–present
Porter won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Lola in Kinky Boots. He credits the part for "cracking open" his feminine side to confront toxic masculinity.[5] For the role, Porter also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. In 2014 Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Kinky Boots. Porter starred in all three seasons of the television series Pose, for which he was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first gay black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys.[6] In 2020, he was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[7] In 2022, he won another Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop. He made his directorial debut in 2022 with the romantic comedy film Anything's Possible.
Early life[edit]
Porter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William Ellis Porter and Cloerinda Jean Johnson Porter Ford.[1][8][9] His sister is Mary Martha E. Ford.[10][11][12] He grew up in a "very religious" Pentecostal family[13] and has described being sexually abused by his stepfather between the ages of 7 and 12.[13]
He attended Reizenstein Middle School, before graduating from Allderdice High School and Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School in 1987.[14] He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama in 1991,[15] and earned a certification from the graduate-level Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA.[16]
During the summers of 1985 through 1987, Porter was a member of entertainment groups "Spirit" and "Flash", which performed daily at Kennywood, a Pittsburgh-area amusement park.[17]
Concerts[edit]
Porter has performed at various venues in New York City, including Lincoln Center, which was broadcast on PBS in 2015[63] and Joe's Pub in New York City.[64] In 2019 Porter headlined at London Pride.[51]
Porter performed "For What It's Worth" with Stephen Stills at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Personal life[edit]
Porter is gay, having come out at the age of 16 "in the middle of the AIDS crisis".[13] He married Adam Smith on January 14, 2017, after meeting him in 2009.[65] He was very keen to get married "while Obama was still president and before January 20th, 2017", so the two got engaged on December 29, 2016, and married two weeks later.[65] In July 2023, it was announced that Porter and Smith had separated.[66]
Porter shared his views on race in the US in a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair, saying: "The reason why our country is in the mess we're in is simply because of whiteness. White supremacy. White people choke-holding power and sucking the life out of humanity."[67]
Porter opposed the cultural boycott of Israel.[68] In October 2023, he signed an open letter supporting Israel during the Israel–Hamas war.[69]
In May 2021, Porter told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been diagnosed with HIV in June 2007;[13] he was also diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in February 2007 and filed for bankruptcy in March 2007.[13] In the same interview, he talked about renting a house on Long Island during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a pre-existing health condition[13] and about having intermittently attended psychotherapy since the age of 25.[13]