Michelle Jonas Wiki, Biography
William Ellis Porter II (born September 21, 1969) is an American actor, singer, writer, and director. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, and he achieved fame performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor.
Porter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William Ellis Porter and Cloerinda Jean Johnson Porter Ford. His sister is Mary Martha E. Ford. He grew up in a “very religious” Pentecostal family and has described being sexually abused by his stepfather between the ages of 7 and 12.
He attended Reizenstein Middle School, before graduating from Allderdice High School and Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School in 1987. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama and earned a certification from the graduate-level Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA.
Porter is gay, having come out at the age of 16, “in the middle of the AIDS crisis”. He married his husband, Adam Smith, on January 14, 2017, after meeting him in 2009. He was very keen to get married “while Obama was still president and before January 20th, 2017” so the two got engaged on December 29, 2016, and married 2 weeks later.
Porter shared his views on race in the US in a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair, saying, “The reason why our country is in the mess we’re in is simply because of whiteness. White supremacy. White people choke-holding power and sucking the life out of humanity.”
Billy Porter has come on to exec produce Black As U R, the first in the independent documentary segment dedicating a feature length film to the misunderstandings of Black queerness and the Trans experience. Porter will produce through his Incognegro Productions with his producing partner D.J. Gugenheim.
The emotionally charged documentary has won multiple Best Feature accolades and special awards on the festival circuit along with crowd pleasing Q&As with director, Micheal Rice, and subjects from the film.Porter spotted the film as a standout among many films screening at LGBTQ+ film festivals and reached out to director Micheal Rice.
“Black As U R aligns with our production philosophy to focus on Black and LGBTQIA joy and realism to shine a light on these stories. We are grateful to be part of this team and excited to share Micheal’s vision with even more audiences” said Porter and Gugenheim.
“This is the type of lift I could only dream about. What Billy represents and his accomplishments are the aspirations of not only subjects in my film, but our entire community,” states Rice.
The doc is Rice’s second documentary following his debut, parTy boi: black diamonds in ice castles. The film continues Rice’s deep dive into the often over-looked and misrepresented narratives of the LGBTQIA experience.
The pic unveils the stark homophobia characterizing many Black spaces, both contemporary and autobiographical, via a look into the director’s own upbringing in the southern United States. The film brings to the forefront the all-too-often silenced conversation within the Black community for generations — Black queerness and transgender identity.
Besides Rice, the pic is exec produced by Gerald Oxford with Edward Radford producing. Director of Photograph is, Holly Fischer with George Gordon serving as editor and Photographer Yinka Paris also on board.
Rice is represented by Crystal Ship Artists Agency. Porter is represented by CAA, Bill Butler at Industry Entertainment, Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan.
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