William Ellis Porter II (born September 21, 1969) is an American singer, actor, writer, director and businessperson. He gained notice performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor. For his role as Lola in Kinky Boots, he won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He credits the part for "cracking open" his feminine side to confront toxic masculinity. He also won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the musical's accompanying album.
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 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 received the Isabelle Stevenson Award at the 77th Tony Awards for his humanitarian work with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and Entertainment Community Fund.
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Early life and education
Porter was born on September 21, 1969, 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.
He attended Reizenstein Middle School, before graduating from Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School in 1987. 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.
Although he was eager to move to New York City, one of Porter's high school teachers encouraged him to apply to Carnegie Mellon University. He credits his teachers as "angels in his life" for guiding him towards educational opportunities that prepared him for his career. Porter once reflected upon this decision:
It's about access. It's about opportunity. It's about knowledge. I lived a 12-minute drive from Carnegie Mellon University for my entire life and had no idea that it was one of the best drama schools in the world. How did I not know that? This is what we mean when we say it's not equal—it's not a level playing field. Had [my teacher] not said something, I would have moved to New York City unprepared and tanked. It was because of teachers, the angels in my life who saw me before I could even see myself, and said, "You're going over here. Just listen." And I knew enough to actually shut up and listen.
He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama in 1991 and later earned a certification from the graduate-level Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA.
Career
Porter appeared on American talent show Star Search in 1992 and won $100,000, appearing 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. Other shows he has been in include Miss Saigon on Broadway (1991; 1999), 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). His single "Show Me" was released on July 15, 1997.
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 was nominated for "Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off Broadway Award" at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards.
In September 2010, Porter appeared as Belize in Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America.
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 several films. 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: 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 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. 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.
Fashion
Porter attributes his love of fashion from an early age to growing up in the black church which he describes as "a fashion show". His style has gone through many phases over the years, including vintage, Abercrombie and Fitch and geek chic. He has said that he intentionally set out to use fashion in a political way, to be a "walking piece of political art". Porter's stylist Sam Ratelle estimated that as of January 2020 they had worked on 150 red carpet looks together many designed by Porter himself. As of 2021, Porter's stylist is Ty Hunter, who has previously worked with Beyoncé.
He later became known for wearing a Gucci outfit to the Met Gala.
At the 2019 Golden Globes, Porter gained attention for wearing an embroidered suit and pink cape designed by Randi Rahm. He said the fact that people were surprised that he wore a cape inspired him to ask Christian Siriano if he could create him a ball gown because it was something he had always wanted to wear. He felt it seemed like a way to challenge people's ideas of masculinity. He continued to make fashion waves that year when he wore a fitted tuxedo jacket and a velvet gown by Christian Siriano with 6" Rick Owens boots to the 91st Academy Awards.
In February 2019, Porter was an Official Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Ambassador for New York Fashion Week: Mens. Porter attended the 2019 Met Gala and embraced the Camp: Notes on Fashion theme by being carried on a litter by six shirtless men while sporting a "Sun God" ensemble. The Blonds designed Porter's outfit, and it included a bejeweled catsuit outfitted with 10 ft (3.0 m) wings, a 24-karat gold headpiece, as well as custom gold-leaf Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and fine jewels by Andreoli, John Hardy, and Oscar Heyman.
In 2020, Porter wore a floor-length pink poncho style gown with a wide-brimmed black hat, a look he characterized as "Handmaid's Tale realness", to the AFI Awards and to the Golden Globes he wore an all-white ensemble that included a tuxedo jacket with a feathered train. He wore a sparkling turquoise bodysuit with matching bolero and a motorised hat to the Grammy awards.
Concerts
Porter has performed at various venues in New York City, including Lincoln Center, which was broadcast on PBS in 2015 and Joe's Pub in New York City. In 2019 Porter headlined at London Pride.
Porter performed "For What It's Worth" with Stephen Stills at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Personal life
Porter is gay, having come out at the age of 16 "in the middle of the AIDS crisis". He married Adam Smith on January 14, 2017, after meeting him in 2009. 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. In July 2023, it was announced that Porter and Smith had separated. In September 2025, Porter began dating Eric Anderson.
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."
Porter opposed the cultural boycott of Israel. In October 2023, he signed an open letter supporting Israel during the Gaza war.
In May 2021, Porter told The Hollywood Reporter that he had been diagnosed with HIV in June 2007; he was also diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in February 2007 and filed for bankruptcy in March 2007. In the same interview, he talked about renting a house on Long Island during the COVID-19 pandemic due to his pre-existing health conditions and about having intermittently attended psychotherapy since the age of 25.
In September 2025, Porter contracted a serious case of sepsis, which caused him to withdraw from his starring role in a Broadway revival of Cabaret while he recovered.
Discography
Albums
1997: Billy Porter (DV8/A&M Records)
2005: At the Corner of Broadway + Soul (Sh-K-Boom Records)
2014: Billy's Back on Broadway (Concord Music Group)
2017: Billy Porter Presents the Soul of Richard Rodgers (Masterworks Broadway)
2023: Black Mona Lisa
Other songs
"Only One Road" on Love Rocks compilation album
"Destiny" with Jordan Hill on Jim Brickman's Greatest Hits album
"Where Is Love?" with Liz Callaway
Appears in
Featured on a number of songs on tribute album It's Only Life: The Songs of John Bucchino
Sings "O Holy Night" on Rosie O'Donnell's Christmas album, A Rosie Christmas (1999)
Adam Guettel's album Myths and Hymns in 1999
He is featured with Alan Cumming, David Raleigh and Ari Gold in a cover of "That's What Friends Are For", for "The Friends Project" in support of the Ali Forney Center, a NYC shelter for homeless LGBT youth. The song was arranged and produced by Nathan Leigh Jones and directed by Michael Akers.
Filmography
Theater
Sources: Playbill Vault; Off-Broadway Database
Miss Saigon, Ensemble/John (u/s), Broadway (1991)
Grease, Teen Angel, Broadway (1994)
The Merchant of Venice, Solanio, Off-Broadway (1995)
Songs for a New World, performer, Off-Broadway (1995)
Smokey Joe's Cafe, performer, Broadway (1995–97)
Miss Saigon, John (replacement), Broadway (1998–99)
Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus of Nazareth, Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, Nyack, NY (1998)
Dreamgirls, James Thunder Early, New York Actors Fund concert (September 2001)
Radiant Baby, Various, Off-Broadway (2003)
Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey ll, Actors' Playhouse, Florida (pre-Broadway tryout) (2003)
Topdog/Underdog, City Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA (2004)
Chef's Theater: A Musical Feast, Performer, Off-Broadway (2004)
Ghetto Superstar, Performer, Off-Broadway (2005) – also playwright
Birdie Blue, Bam/Little Pimp/Sook/Minerva, Off-Broadway (2005)
Putting It Together, performer, New York (2009)
Angels in America, Belize, Off-Broadway (2010)