---
name: "Billy Porter"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/billy-porter"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "21 September 1969"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T18:17:39.945562+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Billy Porter

Actor. Born 21 September 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 21 September 1969, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Active:** 2018–present
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy (1 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Porter, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4913177, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0692039/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/88966

## Coming up

- *The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping* (2026-11-18), as Magno Stift — [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunger-games-sunrise-on-the-reaping.md)

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*POSE*](https://film.one/tv/pose.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Billy Porter

> Billy Porter's instrument is a big, gospel-inflected voice, and the surprise of *Pose* is what he does when he lowers it: the comic turn, all shade and eyebrow, turns out to be carrying the grief of the whole series.

Pray Tell stands at a microphone in a hall dressed in red velvet and gold paint, calling the categories, and Billy Porter announces each one as if it were a verdict. The voice is the instrument: big, church-trained in its cadences, pitched to reach the back of any room he is in. For the first few episodes of *Pose* (2018) you could take him for the light relief, all shade and eyebrow, the man who keeps the party moving while the plot happens to other people.

Then he stops the music. There is a moment in the first season when he speaks to the hall in a voice quite unlike the one he uses for the categories, quieter and slower, and lets his face fall for a second before the mask goes back on. We were got at, and we had not braced for it; we had been enjoying him as a comic turn and were not ready to find him carrying the grief of the whole series. That is the Porter trick, if it is a trick. He spends the volume so freely that the silence, when it comes, costs something.

He was a long time getting there. Broadway ensemble work began in 1991 with *Miss Saigon*, alongside small film and television parts and a run of solo R&B records, and then very little leading work for a long stretch. The turn came in the theatre, originating Lola, the drag queen who saves a shoe factory, in *Kinky Boots* (2013), written by Harvey Fierstein with songs by Cyndi Lauper. *Pose* followed five years later under Ryan Murphy, and Porter has said of that job, "I was set free on that day and I never turned back." Since then there has been the Fabulous Godmother in *Cinderella* (2021), a part built around the singing and the persona, a first feature as director, *Anything's Possible* (2022), a trans coming-of-age romcom shot partly in his home city of Pittsburgh, and a recent *Cabaret* on stage.

The size is the point, and it is also the risk. Given a speech, he will make it, and *Pose* gave him a great many; the programme's speeches run long, and not all of them needed a man who can hold a note for a week. The one sustained criticism of his stage directing, of *The Life* in 2022, was that the message crowded out the people, and it is the same danger from the other side of the footlights. He is at his best when someone in charge knows when to turn him down, and the odd thing is that Murphy, who turned him all the way up, also gave him the scenes where he barely moves.

What we would like to see next is a director asking him to be small for a whole film, and Porter saying yes.

## Biography

Billy Porter is an American actor and singer. Born on 21 September 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he began his career on Broadway in productions including *Miss Saigon* and *Grease* before gaining wider recognition for his solo music releases.

Porter originated the role of Lola in the Broadway musical *Kinky Boots* (2013), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. He starred as Pray Tell in the FX series *Pose* (2018–2021), receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2019.

He won a second Tony Award in 2022 as a producer of *A Strange Loop*. Porter made his directorial debut with the film *Anything's Possible* (2022) and has appeared in films including *Cinderella* (2021).

*Sources: imdb.com, billyporter.com, en.wikipedia.org, ibdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *POSE* (2018), Fi1m 78, as Pray Tell — [page](https://film.one/tv/pose.md)

## Complete filmography (44)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping* (2026), as Magno Stift — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/the-hunger-games-sunrise-on-the-reaping.md)
- *Christmas Karma* (2025), as The Ghost of Christmas Present
- *Freeman Vines* (2025), Executive Producer
- *I Was Born This Way* (2025), Executive Producer
- *(pride/prom)* (2024), Executive Producer
- *Queen of New York* (2023), Acting
- *Our Son* (2023), as Gabriel
- *Truth Be Told* (2023), Acting
- *80 for Brady* (2023), as Gugu
- *Accused* (2023), series, Director
- *A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting* (2022), Executive Producer
- *Anything's Possible* (2022), Director
- *PRIDE: To Be Seen - A Soul of a Nation Presentation* (2022), as Pray Tell (archive footage)
- *The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder* (2022), series, as Randall (voice)
- *Cinderella* (2021), as Fabulous Godmother
- *Smoke, Lilies and Jade* (2021), Acting
- *Sanctuary* (2021), Writer
- *Middlemost Post* (2021), series, as Recycle King (voice)
- *Gossip Girl* (2021), series, as Singer
- *That Damn Michael Che* (2021), series, Acting
- *Where Love Lives: A Story of Dancefloor Culture & Expression* (2021), as (Himself)
- *25 Years of Rent: Measured in Love* (2021), Acting
- *Equal* (2020), series, as Narrator
- *Like a Boss* (2020), as Barrett
- *The Twilight Zone* (2019), series, Acting
- *POSE* (2018), series, as Pray Tell — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/pose.md)
- *Big Mouth* (2017), series, as Ocean (voice)
- *The Humbling* (2014), as Prince
- *American Horror Story* (2011), series, as Behold Chablis
- *The Shoe* (2011), Acting
- *Indie Sex: Teens* (2008), Acting
- *Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema* (2006), Original Music Composer
- *Noel* (2004), as Randy
- *The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy* (2000), as Taylor
- *Intern* (2000), as Sebastian Niederfarb
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Jackie Walker
- *Colorz of Rage* (1999), as Street Performer
- *Twisted* (1996), as Shiniqua, Angel's friend
- *Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story* (1991), series, as Little Richard
- *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Greg Ellison — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md)
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Desmond (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Raquel: Total Beauty and Fitness* (1984), Acting
- *To Be Real*, Director, Executive Producer
- *Camp*, Mark, Director

## Gallery

- ![Billy Porter at the Sardi's portrait ceremony for Taraji P. Henson - June 23, 2026](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-ba08cdb44dfd.jpg) Billy Porter at the Sardi's portrait ceremony for Taraji P. Henson - June 23, 2026 — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/BillyPorter-byPhilipRomano.jpg/1280px-BillyPorter-byPhilipRomano.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Red carpet photos form the 2024 Library of Congress Gershwin Price concert with recipients Elton John and Bernie Taupin.](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-4c3def34720a.jpg) Red carpet photos form the 2024 Library of Congress Gershwin Price concert with recipients Elton John and Bernie Taupin. — UKinUSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Billy_Porter_Gershwin_Prize_2024.jpg/1280px-Billy_Porter_Gershwin_Prize_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Billy Porter](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-18abb4cf2684.jpg) Billy Porter — UKinUSA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Billy_Porter_Gershwin_Prize_2024_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Lancaster, Pa., July 2017](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-47fe0956cc7a.jpg) Lancaster, Pa., July 2017 — Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Billy_Porter_at_Belvedere_Inn.jpg/1280px-Billy_Porter_at_Belvedere_Inn.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Billy Porter](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-fc5b1f284b54.jpg) Billy Porter — Image via TMDB
- ![Billy Porter](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-84135964bc20.jpg) Billy Porter — Image via TMDB
- ![Billy Porter](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-e13f81badf55.jpg) Billy Porter — Image via TMDB
- ![Billy Porter performing at the 2024 Capital Pride Festival in Washington, D.C.](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-b9573e75a418.jpg) Billy Porter performing at the 2024 Capital Pride Festival in Washington, D.C. — APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Billy_Porter_at_the_2024_Capital_Pride_Festival_-_1.jpg/1280px-Billy_Porter_at_the_2024_Capital_Pride_Festival_-_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Billy Porter](https://film.one/media/person/429203/gallery-d456eaf47c2a.jpg) Billy Porter — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 1 won

- 2019: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (won), for *Pose*

### Other awards — 5 won

- Isabelle Stevenson Award 2024: Isabelle Stevenson Award (won)
- Tony Award for Best Musical 2022: Tony Award for Best Musical (won), for *A Strange Loop*
- Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album 2014: Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album (won), for *Kinky Boots*
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical 2013: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (won), for *Kinky Boots*
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical 2013: Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (won), for *Kinky Boots*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/billy-porter