Billy Porter

Acting

Billy Porter

Born 1969-09-21 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Billy Porter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping poster
NR

Return to the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

2026

Cinderella poster
6.3

Cinderella, an orphaned girl with an evil stepmother, has big dreams and with the help of her Fabulous Godmother, she perseveres to make them come true.

Cinderella

2021

80 for Brady poster
6.2

Four lifelong friends set out on an unforgettable journey to see their hero Tom Brady play in Super Bowl LI and witness one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, discovering that it's never too late to live life to the fullest. Inspired by a true story.

80 for Brady

2023

Like a Boss poster
6.2

Two female friends with very different ideals decide to start a beauty company together. One is more practical, while the other wants to earn her fortune and live a lavish lifestyle.

Like a Boss

2020

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love poster
8.3

Paying tribute to a beloved national icon for her birthday, NBC celebrates Carol Burnett's illustrious career with a star-studded event featuring an A-list lineup of musical performances and special guests who come together to share their love for one of the most cherished comediennes in television history.

Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love

2023

Noel poster
5.8

With Christmas Eve just around the corner in bustling New York, five lonely and sad strangers find their lives inadvertently intersected.

Noel

2004

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy poster
6.3

A close-knit group of gay friends share the emotional roller coster of life, relationships, the death of friends, new beginnings, jealousy, fatherhood and professional success. At various stages of life's disarray, these young men share humorous and tragic relationships and always have each other to rely on.

The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy

2000

The Humbling poster
5.1

Following a breakdown and suicide attempt, an aging actor becomes involved with a much younger woman but soon finds that it's difficult to keep pace with her.

The Humbling

2014

Indie Sex: Teens poster
4.2

Underage sexual activity is one of the most taboo subjects on screen. The film traces the history and representation of adolescent love and sexual behavior from Splendor on the Grass to Thirteen. It examines both the sensational teen films of the 1980s and more modern youth cinema as mediums through which teen movies play a central role in adolescent sex education.

Indie Sex: Teens

2008

Little Richard: I Am Everything poster
6.6

The story of the black, gay origins of rock n' roll. It explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard's complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions.

Little Richard: I Am Everything

2023

Christmas Karma poster
5.3

In contemporary London, miserly British-Indian businessman Eshan Sood is compelled by three ghosts to reflect on his life and to consider the needs of those around him.

Christmas Karma

2025

Our Son poster
6.3

When his husband Gabriel files for divorce, Nicky fights for custody of their 8-year-old son Owen, as he struggles to come to terms with what it means to love someone and what it means to be a father.

Our Son

2023

PRIDE: To Be Seen - A Soul of a Nation Presentation poster
7.5

It’s the resilience and love that keeps this community marching to the beat of its own drum; each generation redefining what it means to be queer and to be seen.

PRIDE: To Be Seen - A Soul of a Nation Presentation

2022

Broadway: The Next Generation poster
NR

A look at the past, present and future of the Great White Way.

Broadway: The Next Generation

Pose-a-Thon for Pride poster
1.0

Bringing together the voices of "Pose" for stories, songs, and support of LGBTQ education, social change for sexual and gender minority people of color, and transgender equality through legal services and policy efforts.

Pose-a-Thon for Pride

2020

I Was Born This Way poster
1.0

Surviving childhood abuse during his upbringing in Baltimore, Archbishop Carl Bean forged a path to New York and Hollywood to do the one thing he knew he was put on earth to do: sing. Making his mark first as a gospel singer, Bean got the break of his life when Motown tapped him in 1977 to record the disco song “I Was Born This Way,” which quickly became the first gay anthem at a time when it was uncommon to be out and proud. When the AIDS crisis hit, however, Bean soon found himself drawn to a different calling: compassionate activism. Instead of pursuing the momentum of his promising music career, he founded the Minority AIDS Project and the Unity Fellowship Church — the first LGBTQ+ church for people of color.

I Was Born This Way

2025

Every Act of Life poster
6.4

The life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally (Master Class, Ragtime): 60 years of groundbreaking plays and musicals, the struggle for gay rights, addiction and recovery, finding true love, and the relentless pursuit of inspiration.

Every Act of Life

2018

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema poster
5.4

A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain". Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transgender films, films about diversity and various cultures, documentaries and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema

2006

Together in Pride: You Are Not Alone poster
10.0

Online special co-hosted by Billy Eichner and Lilly Singh in response to COVID-19 featuring celebrities and live performances raising funds for LGBTQ community centers.

Together in Pride: You Are Not Alone

2020

Where Love Lives: A Story of Dancefloor Culture & Expression poster
4.0

Documentary by the music label Defected and its brand Glitterbox about electronic music, its beginning in New York and its importance for minorities all around the world.

Where Love Lives: A Story of Dancefloor Culture & Expression

2021

Intern poster
3.7

A young, underappreciated intern at the ultra-hip magazine Skirt must learn to deal with kissy-face phoniness, model tantrums and bulimic editors, while trying to steal the heart of a dashing British art director from the grips of a supermodel.

Intern

2000

Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness poster
7.0

Raquel Welch demonstrates a series of practical yoga exercises inspired by hatha yoga.

Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness

1984

Twisted poster
3.6

This retelling of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist may be populated by drug pushers, pimps and prostitutes, but the book's classic themes remain the same. Caught under the thumb of a lecherous brothel owner, 10-year-old Lee befriends an aspiring musician named Angel who helps him escape his servitude and sends a maternal drag queen to vanquish the boy's enemies.

Twisted

1996

Disco's Revenge poster
6.8

Born underground, on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement and the Stonewall Riots, disco’s nascent popularity saw the spectacular takeover of the dancefloor, the airwaves and burgeoning fashion trends that reflected the joy and freedom inherent to the genre. Co-opted and exploited through references like John Travolta’s strut and shiny Swedish tracksuits, disco eventually reaches the mainstream, losing its original flair and purpose rooted in radical politics and social change.

Disco's Revenge

2024

Behind the camera

Anything's Possible poster
5.8

Anything’s Possible is a delightfully modern Gen Z coming-of-age story that follows Kelsa, a confident high school girl who is trans, as she navigates through senior year. When her classmate Khal gets a crush on her, he musters up the courage to ask her out, despite the drama he knows it could cause. What transpires is a romance that showcases the joy, tenderness, and pain of young love.

Anything's Possible

2022

Sanctuary poster
NR

What is God? God is love! Plain and simple. SANCTUARY, with book by Billy Porter and music and lyrics by Kurt Carr, invites audiences to fellowship and to learn how to spread the love, through the power of gospel music. Love is God.

Sanctuary

2021

No artwork available
NR

Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim – who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists. Randy reinvents himself over the summer as ‘Del, a buff, masculine, and on the market camper. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him. But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much he is willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who he truly is?

Camp

No artwork available
NR

An edgy, laugh out loud comedy about three queer high school seniors who go on the ultimate quest to attend their first New York Pride parade.

To Be Real