Billy Porter (actor)

William Ellis Porter II (born September 21, 1969) is an American actor and singer.

Porter gained notice performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor.

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.

He attended Reizenstein Middle School, before graduating from Allderdice High School and Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School in 1987.

He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama in 1991, and earned a certification from the graduate-level Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA.

Porter appeared on American talent show Star Search in 1992 and won $100,000.

He appeared on the same show as other future stars, such as a young Britney Spears.

Porter played Teen Angel in the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease.

He played a major role as Shiniqua, a drag queen who befriends Angel (David Norona) and Lee (Keivyn McNeill Graves) in Seth Michael Donsky's Twisted (1997), an adaptation of Oliver Twist.

He has also appeared on The RuPaul Show.

He has had a musical career with three solo albums released, Billy Porter on DV8/A&M Records in 1997, At the Corner of Broadway + Soul in 2005 on Sh-K-Boom Records and Billy's Back on Broadway (Concord Music Group) in 2014.

He sings on Adam Guettel's 1999 album Myths and Hymns studio cast album on Nonesuch Records.

He also covered "Only One Road" that was included on the Human Rights Campaign compilation album Love Rocks.

Other shows he has been in include Topdog/Underdog at City Theatre (2004), Jesus Christ Superstar and Dreamgirls at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (2004), and the song cycles Myths and Hymns and Songs for a New World (Off-Broadway, 1995).

Porter wrote and performed in his one-person autobiographical show, Ghetto Superstar (The Man That I Am) at Joe's Pub in New York City in February and March 2005.

He featured in a number of songs in the tribute album It's Only Life: The Songs of John Bucchino in 2006, released on PS Classics.

In September 2010, Porter appeared as Belize in Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.

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.

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.

Porter originated the role of "Lola" in Kinky Boots on Broadway in 2013, with songs by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein and directed/choreographed by Jerry Mitchell.

Porter won both the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for this role.

Porter has also appeared in many films.

In 2014 Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Kinky Boots.

Porter wrote the play While I Yet Live, which premiered Off-Broadway at Primary Stages in September 2014 in previews, officially on October 12.

In addition to Porter, the cast included Lillias White and S. Epatha Merkerson.

He was nominated for "Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off Broadway Award" at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards.

Porter released Billy Porter Presents the Soul of Richard Rodgers in April 2017.

The album, which features new, soulful takes on classic Richard Rodgers songs, includes solos and duets from the following artists (in addition to Porter himself): Tony and Grammy Award winners Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton) and Leslie Odom Jr.. (Hamilton), Tony Award-winner Patina Miller (Pippin), Grammy Award winners Pentatonix, India Arie and Ledisi, Tony Award nominees Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along), Joshua Henry (Violet), and Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), alongside YouTube and Kinky Boots star Todrick Hall and multiple Grammy Award nominee Deborah Cox.

Porter reprised the role of Lola in Kinky Boots in September 2017 on Broadway, where he did a 15-week run.

In 2018, Porter starred in the FX show Pose in the role of Pray Tell.

In August 2018, Porter confirmed via Instagram that he was joining the cast of American Horror Story for its eighth season, subtitled Apocalypse.

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.

In 2019, Pose earned its renewal for a third season after airing just one episode from the second season.

In 2020, he was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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.

Porter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William Ellis Porter and Cloerinda Jean Johnson Porter Ford.

His sister is Mary Martha E. Ford.

He grew up in a "very religious" Pentecostal family and has described being sexually abused by his stepfather between the ages of 7 and 12.