In his 30-year career, Billy Porter has tackled a wide range of roles in television, movies, and theater. The trailblazing actor, singer, and activist garnered two Golden Globe nominations for his portrayal of Pray Tell in FX’s groundbreaking drama Pose, the LGBTQ+ icon has also won a number of noteworthy awards, including a Tony, a Grammy and a Primetime Emmy.

Porter’s latest role sees the accomplished actor tackle an episode of CBS All Access’ The Twilight Zone. This is the second season of Jordan Peele’s contemporary reimagining of the twisted Rod Serling anthology show, which first aired in 1959.

Speaking on the phone from his New York home, Billy Porter opens up to the HFPA about life in lockdown, the power of parable, and the Golden Globes…

How would you describe your relationship to The Twilight Zone?

I have always loved The Twilight Zone. My relationship with the show goes all the way back to my childhood. When I was growing up, there were only three television stations and they all went off the air at around 2 am. One of those stations played The Twilight Zone right before it shut off for the night and I would often watch it when I couldn’t sleep. I grew up religious. I grew up in the Pentecostal church, where the Bible is used as a parable and as a metaphor to teach us. It’s used to show us different morals and different ways to move through life. It’s used to teach us good versus evil and moral versus immoral. The Twilight Zone always moved me because it felt like an extension of that brand of parable-like storytelling. I am ecstatic to be involved with this new version of the show. And I love that it’s Jordan Peele.

Do you think parables and metaphors are an efficient way to talk about social issues in 2020, rather than a more realistic approach?

I think that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Mary Poppins said that many, many years ago. When we tell stories through metaphor and parable, it cracks open a space in people that is not about shaming. It is not about blaming. It allows a space to simply present facts. And it allows for the human being who’s receiving the story to make their own decisions. I think it’s a very powerful way to tell stories. I do think there is a space for these stories to exist in a subtle way, but I also think this isn’t a time to be subtle. Right now, I think we can get a little bit more specific and a little more direct. If you know me, you know that I am not about subtlety at all. I tell the truth in the easiest way that people can comprehend.

What do you think of Jordan Peele?

Jordan Peele is a huge inspiration to me. He made a name for himself and then he created a space for people of color to thrive in; where we really didn’t exist before in any significant way. Having a black man at the helm of this series that has been so singularly associated with white people for so long really cracked open the breadth of who it can speak to. Now, The Twilight Zone can directly speak to everybody because then we see ourselves reflected back at us. In this rebooted version of The Twilight Zone, I am so grateful for the fact that there are black people and there are people of color in the stories. I am so grateful that these stories reflect what the actual world looks like. It’s not just one color. Jordan has created a space for us. I am very happy that he sees me and has put me in that space.

Who are the actors that inspired you to get into the industry?

All the Black actors of the ‘70s and ‘80s inspired me. I grew up with Norman Lear, so The Jeffersons was a big deal for me because it showed black people in high class; black people who were moving on up. Denzel Washington was one of my favorites. James Earl Jones, Mary Alice, Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., and all those people. I was always interested wherever I could see anything that remotely looked like me.

What do your Golden Globe nominations mean to you?

It’s about access. It is a space that puts eyes on me, and that really matters. That really matters in terms of me being able to show up as a representative for a particular group of people. I get to speak for a particular group of people who don’t get to be spoken for; who don’t have voices very often. It’s acknowledgment in spaces like that that allow for my cache to go up.

What are your memories of the awards show?

The Golden Globes is my favorite awards show because it involves dinner and drinking. It’s not as stuffy as other shows. It’s not so serious. People are drinking, so there are fewer nerves and weirdness. People are there to have fun and they are very open. It’s fun. I really enjoy going to the Golden Globes. It’s a really fun party.

You are a trailblazer in Hollywood. How does it feel to be at the forefront of change?

As a Black queer artist, I’ve spent the majority of my life and career carving out a space for my identity to be illuminated and for stories to be told from my perspective. It’s taken a really, really long time for that to happen but I am so grateful that I have lived long enough to see the day where I, Billy Porter, can stand inside in my authenticity and exist in the mainstream. That is good. That is the change I’ve seen. And I am hopeful that we can continue as artists on that path and continue to illuminate stories of all different kinds of people because I do know that the arts have the capacity and the ability to reach into the hearts and minds of people and change the molecular structure inside there. It’s not lost on me that we get to do that as artists. It feels like a responsibility to me and I don’t take that lightly. However, I am also honored to be presented with that responsibility. I take the mantle with pride and humility.

When did you discover your voice?

Are you referring to my singing voice or my political voice? I started singing in church at five years old. I realized that my talent had power in the fourth or fifth grade, which is when I took part in the talent show. When I sang in the talent show, the bullying stopped. That’s when I realized there was something special there because people stopped beating me up. My political voice began to emerge at the intersection of growing up Pentecostal and being gay, and the AIDS crisis. The intersection of all three of those things coming together at the same time pushed me into activism and advocacy because I did not like the hypocrisy that was inside the church. I did not like it, so I had to do something about it. That’s when I started discovering that particular voice.

How can Hollywood improve in terms of diversity and representation?

How do we change things? You have to just change it. Period. Somebody has to just do it like I do it. Just cast us and do it. That’s it. That’s how it happens. It doesn’t happen until somebody takes the lead; until somebody takes the step, or somebody puts their neck out. It’s not brain surgery. Just cast us.

What can audiences expect from your upcoming movie project, Cinderella?

Audiences can expect a modern re-telling of the Cinderella fairytale with Camila Cabello. They’ve taken the original fairytale and made it resonate with our world today. It’s modern. It’s new. And I play the Fairy Godmother.

How does it feel to be cast in such an iconic role?

It’s definitely iconic. I was squealing when they called to offer me the role because I feel like I’m playing the Whitney Houston part in the story, and Whitney Houston was my favorite. I grew up with the original movie, but it didn’t resonate with me as much as the Brandy and Whitney Houston version of Cinderella [Rodger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella from 1997]. I was a grown man when that version came out, but that was always my favorite. Whitney Houston was my favorite of all time, too. And now I get to play the Whitney Houston part. It’s incredible.

Were you working on Cinderella when the world started to close down?

We were working on the first episode of [season three] Pose when everything got shut down. I’d already shot all my scenes in Cinderella. I’d wrapped on the movie, but we’d started work on How are you coping with life in this weird new world?