Who is Billy Porter?

By Genesis Harshell

As our Summer Flower Show, Flowers Meet Fashion: Inspired by Billy Porter, continues to engage and enthrall thousands of visitors, we wanted to take the opportunity to share more about Porter himself and the ways his Pittsburgh roots and array of career milestones helped to influence the brilliant fashion designs and horticultural displays you’ll see at Phipps. Read on to learn what led Billy Porter to be the icon that he is today!

On September 21, 1969, Cloerinda Jean Johnson Porter-Ford gave birth to her son William Ellis Porter II, otherwise known as Billy Porter. In his early childhood, Billy grew up surrounded by women — he and his mother lived with his great aunt Dot in the Lawrenceville area in what their family called “the big house.” It was during these formative years that he showed interest in fashion and singing in his church choir, earning the nickname “Lil’ Preacher Man.” Billy’s love for fashion continued to grow as he found himself captivated by the women in their Sunday best, awestruck by the endless variety of accessories, fabrics and garments that surrounded him.

Billy spent a large portion of his early life encountering and overcoming various hardships. Knowing from a young age that he was different from the other boys around him, he was often outcast for being too feminine or “too sissy.” As Billy was entering middle school, he began to find an outlet in band and musical theatre where he could escape from the outside world where he didn’t always feel he belonged. When performing on stage, there was no judgment or stigma, only a celebration of his talents. It was the support from the people guiding him through these programs that allowed Billy to finally feel like he found where he was meant to be. From then on he knew that music and theatre would be a space where he could thrive as his true self.

By the time he reached high school, he was able to start attending Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) School. Billy then began to audition outside of his school. Most auditions required him to dance and present a monologue, and while both of those things threw him from his comfort zone, he knew he could always prove himself with the power of his voice.

Billy’s first paying gig was at Kennywood Amusement Park. His talent scored him this job that kept him working all summer long! Noticing the sharper skills of others lit a fire within Billy to push himself harder as a performer. He switched his concentration at CAPA from music to acting and began taking dance courses in a wide variety of styles. Between attending two high schools, taking miscellaneous performing jobs and his dance classes, Billy’s days would typically run from 6 a.m. – 11 p.m. This never stopped him from pursuing even more! In fact, he was still in high school when he took on roles in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s (CLO) Mini Stars at 14 years old and joined Don Brockett’s production company, where he was performing on the road at 16 years old.

As his high school career was ending, two of his educators at CAPA pulled him aside and advised him that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was the next step he should take. With the help of these educators, he was able to audition and get accepted on the spot with enough aid and scholarships to fully cover his tuition. During his time in college Billy began to finally accept himself for who he was though he was not able to escape outside judgment. He was auditioning anywhere and everywhere he could, but only a few places ever offered him a role. On top of his determined focus on his career and education, Billy began to see friends, teachers and mentors lose their lives during the height of the AIDS crisis. This weighed heavy on Billy, but it also encouraged him to be an activist for the queer community. As Billy puts it, “I went from a theater queen to a gay activist in 3.5 minutes and never looked back. And we have been fighting ever since.”

In 1991, Billy graduated from CMU with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama. With a love for fashion and performing, he felt ready to dive into whatever opportunities were ahead. One of the most notable opportunities, outside of theatre, for Billy after graduating, was his appearance on the renowned television show Star Search in 1992 where he made it all the way to the finals, winning $100,000!

Billy would spend the next five years performing in a handful of shows, both on and off Broadway, as well as starring in a few movies and TV shows such as Twisted, The First Wives Club and Another World before releasing his own album in 1998. In the music videos for this album, he was not acting as himself, but instead trying to put on a masculine, heteronormative persona that was suggested to him in order to succeed in the entertainment industry. He would then go on to appear in several more theatre performances, but his music was not taking off as he had hoped. He was doing everything he was told to “play the game” in the industry, but still was not advancing the way he wanted to. He stated that there was “nothing worse than failing as somebody else.” This sense of failure convinced Billy to do everything as his true self from that moment on.

The mid-to-late 2000s were particularly hard for Billy because he was beginning to lose the asset that had helped him begin to feel free: his voice. With severe reflux issues among other ailments affecting his voice, there were days where he was unable to speak, let alone perform for a crowd. This kept Billy from doing what he loved as a performer. The once therapeutic and healing world of musical theatre was becoming more distant. Billy has stated that 2007 was the worst year of his entire life, he was diagnosed type II diabetic, he was signing papers for bankruptcy and he received the diagnosis that he was HIV+.

In 2012, following some time away from the stage, Billy caught wind of auditions for Kinky Boots and was determined to get back to the work he loved. He put everything he had into his audition and was cast as the leading role of Lola for the show’s introduction to Broadway! This role re-ignited a fire in Billy, and his career, all over again. He performed in Kinky Boots for almost two years and has credited the part with helping him take comfort in his femininity. This opened new doors and led him to winning major awards, including Best Leading Actor in a Musical from the Tony Awards, Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical from the Drama Desk Award and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical from the Outer Critics Circle Awards. From that point on, Billy has been back in the spotlight! He has appeared in other theatre performances and found roles in the world of television and cinema. There was also a behind the scenes documentary about Kinky Boots called Land of Lola: Backstage at Kinky Boots and a TV special based on Billy called Billy Porter: Broad & Soul!

Since then, Billy has taken the world by storm as an actor, director, musician and writer! He has become an iconic star who has captivated the world with incredible performances, tremendous fashion sense and continuous activism for people of color and the LGBTQA+ community. He has taken a stand against toxic masculinity and continues to enforce that no fashion choice should be a source of judgment. He has spoken out about his struggles to show others that they can be themselves even when the world is trying to bring them down. He is a survivor who will continue to fight for everyone to have the opportunity to live freely. Art, in the forms of music, theatre and fashion, has been the constant healer for trauma in Billy’s life – and now it is the driving force he uses to empower, heal and inspire others.