VIDEO: Billy Porter & Uzo Aduba Have an 'Actors on Actors' Conversation!
The pair discuss "Pose," "Orange is the New Black," and the roles and TV shows that brought each actor into the public consciousness.
By: Sarah Leiber Jun. 17, 2021
The 14th season of Variety and PBS SoCal's Emmy-winning series "Variety's Actors on Actors" premieres on June 18 on PBS SoCal. The new season, filmed entirely from the actors' homes, includes exclusive, one-on-one conversations between actors from potential Emmy-contending series.
Tony winner Billy Porter sat down for a conversation with "Godspell" Broadway star Uzo Aduba for "Actors on Actors" - watch the full video!
Porter discusses the first time he saw a representation of a Black queer man on stage.
"It was 'Angels in America' in 1994. I took myself to see it, by myself. I'd heard too much about it. I was sitting there, and I just wept the whole time, looking at Jeffrey Wright play the character of Belize. No shade - he was fabulous. But a straight Black man," Porter said. "Playing the one part that I could get. Because no one respected me as an actor enough to be straight. I was marginalized for my queerness. So I watched this play, and it was the first time that I had ever seen a real representation of me reflected back at me. A Black queer man."
Porter would go on to play Belize in the 2010 Signature Theatre production of "Angels."
The pair also discuss "Pose," "Orange is the New Black," and the roles and TV shows that brought each actor into the public consciousness.
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