Billy Porter (entertainer)
Glossaries
Billy Porter (entertainer)
Billy Porter (born September 21, 1969) is an American Broadway theater performer, singer, and actor. He attended the Musical Theater program at Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School's School of Drama, graduated from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, and achieved fame performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor.Porter won the 2013 Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Lola in Kinky Boots at the 67th Tony Awards. For the role, Porter also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. In 2014 Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Kinky Boots. He currently stars in the television series Pose for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first openly gay black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys.
In January 1972, Time magazine featured Wilson's image on its cover and named him 'TV's first black superstar'.Wilson released a number of comedy albums in the 1960s and 70s, and won a Grammy Award for his 1970 album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.After The Flip Wilson Show ended, Wilson kept performing and acting until the 1990s, though at a reduced schedule. He hosted a short-lived revival of People are Funny in 1984, and had the lead role in the 1985-1986 sitcom Charlie & Co.