45 Quotes by 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.'

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

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.

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.