Billy Porter — one of the rare entertainers who has won an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy — announced on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that he’s returning to Pittsburgh to shoot his first film as a director this summer, called “What If.”
“It’s a teenage coming-of-age rom-com about a Black transgender senior in high school, who’s, you know, just trying to get a boyfriend and go to the prom and get into college,” said Porter. “It’s a beautiful story. It’s set in Pittsburgh, my hometown, so I’m going home to my hometown to shoot it.”
Porter grew up in Homewood and East Liberty and attended Taylor Allderdice High School and Carnegie Mellon University.
Though he’s new to directing a film, he has 20 years of experience directing for the theater.
The third and final season of Porter’s FX show “Pose” — about New York’s underground ball culture in the 1980s — premieres on Sunday at 10 p.m.
During the interview, the 51-year-old star also talked about his early days — revealing that he shared an early 1990s “Star Search” episode with Britney Spears (which he won, to the tune of $100,000). He lamented that instead of buying property in Manhattan, he got his teeth fixed.
Porter is included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2020.
Watch the full interview with Porter on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” here.