Billy Porter Quotes

I grew up when one of America's greatest black playwrights, August Wilson, was writing about life in Pittsburgh, but I never saw myself in any of his straight-male plays. And then I see 'Angels,' which was so honest and painful, and it had this black drag queen in it, Belize, with a big heart. I finally had a character to relate to.

- Billy Porter

There was a time in the '90s where, as an African-American man, you had to be a misogynistic R&B star or a rapper, and I didn't fit into either one of those. I was advised by my label to remain closeted at that time.

- Billy Porter

I've worked with a lot of gay and lesbian organizations. I sit on the board of the Empire State Pride Agenda. I've also done a lot of work for Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS. I think it's important because, when we can be of service to others, it only enhances our lives. I've been helped a lot in my life.

- Billy Porter

I had to come out to my mother three times over a twelve-year period, but I first came out to her when I was sixteen. It didn't go over so well, because I grew up in the Pentecostal Church. It was a very strict environment. She has since done a lot of work and has really blown my mind. She has learned about my life and has changed her mind.

- Billy Porter

I do 'sissy with a heart of gold' really well.

- Billy Porter

When you grow up in the church, the only translation in that insular world that people understand is preaching. You're supposed to be a minister. So I was going down that path, and then I saw the Tonys.

- Billy Porter

People don't see me in traditional roles; I'm not getting cast in the revival of 'Company' as Bobby.

- Billy Porter

Many movie stars or American Idol contestants sort of fall into theater... and say, 'Oh, yeah, I would love to do theater.' And then they get here and say, 'Oh, wait a minute, this actually is a craft!' It's not just show up one day and do it. It's show up eight times a week, twice on Wednesdays and twice on Saturdays.

- Billy Porter

Seeing Jennifer Holliday from 'Dreamgirls' perform on the Tony Awards telecast and later discovering Barbra Streisand by listening to her albums at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh really changed everything for me.

- Billy Porter

I'm in love with what a high heel does to a leg: how it makes a woman or a man feel. It's empowering.

- Billy Porter

I had something nobody else could do - I sang in a way that separated me - and, when you're trying to get noticed, you play your trump card.

- Billy Porter

I took 'Grease' to play my trump card, my voice, and get attention that would lead to auditions for serious work like 'Angels in America.' But I backed myself into a corner with 'Grease,' and it took me 17 years to get out.

- Billy Porter

I'm trying to embrace social media because it gives artists a little more power than we've had in the past.

- Billy Porter

Just because you're working does not mean you're making money. That's two very different things in show business.

- Billy Porter

I always said if I played a drag queen, I'd want to create a template with the realness they talk about in 'Paris Is Burning.'

- Billy Porter

When I had a record deal in the '90s, that was my dream - to make an album like Barbra Streisand's Broadway album - and they laughed me out of the room. Broadway wasn't cool. But artists like Michael Buble and Josh Groban have brought the classic genre back to the forefront, so I'm trying to find my way inside that market.

- Billy Porter

For years I tried to put myself in a box, and it frustrated me, so I had to let go and let the universe take its course.

- Billy Porter

I don't in any way disparage any time I've had in the trenches because it really has made me the artist I am today.

- Billy Porter

All you need to do is turn on the news, and in five minutes, you're depressed with the state of the world. Choosing joy is a completely active choice. It doesn't just happen. You can't just say, 'I want to be happy.' You have to take action.

- Billy Porter

If you gauge how you're doing on whether somebody is responding vocally or not, you're up a creek. You can't do that; you kind of have to be inside of your work and play the scene. And tell the story every day. Tell the story. Tell the story. Regardless of how people are responding, I'm going to tell the story.

- Billy Porter

My truth is I am gay and out, and if I can't do that in my music, then I don't need it. Fortunately, I do feel like there is a movement against homophobia, and I hope to be part of that.

- Billy Porter

I just feel like we as a human race tend to fear that which we don't understand. It's cause for a lot of bad things and bad behavior to exist on the planet. Artists have a way of touching people and changing minds in a way that sometimes other mediums don't.

- Billy Porter

When I was younger, I did what I now call 'extreme singing.' I could do this thing where I would sing really high. I can't really do that anymore, at my age. My voice has shifted. It's changed.

- Billy Porter

There's this misconception that I've been turning down roles. It's just not true. The reality is, there was nothing for me to do, nobody was calling, the phone wasn't ringing.

- Billy Porter

I love the community of theater. There is something about the camaraderie: People who show up eight times a week to do a show. It's unlike any other business. It's just lovely. You feel like you're in a family.

- Billy Porter

You can't ever put yourself in a position where someone is requiring you to inhabit somebody else's energy. You have to own your thing, or own it with very fiber of your being.

- Billy Porter

I was so beat down as a young person - being black, being gay, being unable to assimilate because I could never, ever pull off being butch.

- Billy Porter

For me, I really feel like if there's not a real, true connection to the material, I don't need to sing it. I don't need to sing songs just because I like them anymore. I've done that.

- Billy Porter

Broadway! Broad-way! I don't aspire to the middle. I aspire to the tip-tip-top of it all.

- Billy Porter

I'm not one of those actors who gets so taken by a role that I can't live my life. I'm the type of actor who goes to work, transforms into a character, takes you on a journey, and then comes back home to be Billy. When I'm in it, I'm in it, but I know how to get out of it. When you can't shut it off, you're a crazy person. I'm not crazy.

- Billy Porter

Just by the nature of making the choice to be true to who I am, I'm political. Sometimes that's all you need to do: Show up and be black, gay and Christian in America and actually say it out loud. And refuse to let anything or anybody take that away from you.

- Billy Porter

I was fine being in the closet at the beginning of my career because that's what you were supposed to be - until I realized that it didn't serve anybody, and I was left feeling utterly empty. This is who I am, so I've gotta be me.

- Billy Porter

For me, life is about being positive and hopeful, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be encouraging, choosing to be empowering.

- Billy Porter

When you're doing what you love, it's not exhausting at all, actually. It's completely empowering and exhilarating.

- Billy Porter

I want to do work that means something to me so that when I go to work at the theater eight times a week, I want to be there.

- Billy Porter

We need to understand that whatever we do, we're all human beings first.

- Billy Porter

I wouldn't be caught dead in red.

- Billy Porter

I've always been passionate about fashion.

- Billy Porter