Santiago Felipe/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Emmy voting is in fully swing this week, and Pose star Billy Porter could possibly repeat as best actor in a drama series. He tells ABC Audio that the thought of that is incredible, because for so long he lived in a world where it wasn’t possible.
“The idea that there is a world where a show like Pose can exist and a character like Pray Tell, can exist, I remember the world where that was impossible. I was here for that,” he recalls. “So Pose and this Emmy and this second nomination and all of that stuff, it’s like the impossible coming true. I feel like Cinderella.”
The 50-year-old actor and singer adds that the current push towards embracing diversity is fantastic, but he’s not lost on the fact that it’s taken a long time to get here.
“For a person like me, a Black, gay, out actor who was told that my gayness was my liability. And everybody who told me that was right. For decades. And now all of a sudden, the very thing that is my truth. The very thing that makes me authentic. The very thing that was dismissed, that was shut out, that was my liability is the reason why I’m sitting here talking to you today,” he explains.
These days it’s a different story though. Porter has hit new levels of fame in the last few years and he is loving this moment right now.
“I am grateful that all this is happening to me late in life and late in my career, after 30 plus years of being in the business,” he says. “My focus has always been on the work, has always been on the art of it… awards are icing on the cake.”
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