Billy Porter
Biography
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. For his role as Lola in Kinky Boots, Porter 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. Porter 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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Full filmography
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) as Jackie Walker
- Law & Order (1990) as Greg Ellison
- The Simpsons (1989) as Desmond (voice)
- Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (2009) as Self - Guest
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) as Self
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) as Self - Guest
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014) as Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014) as Self - Guest
- The Daily Show (1996) as Self
- Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014) as Self
- Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014) as Self - Guest
- American Horror Story (2011) as Behold Chablis
- The Kelly Clarkson Show (2019) as Self
- Dancing with the Stars (2005) as Self - Guest Judge
- The Graham Norton Show (2007) as Self
- Saturday Night Live (1975) as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
- The Jennifer Hudson Show (2022)
- Project Runway (2004) as Self - Guest Judge
- The Late Late Show with James Corden (2015) as Self - Guest
- The View (1997) as Self - Guest
- The View (1997) as Self
- Golden Globe Awards (1944) as Self - Presenter
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014) as Self
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007) as Self