Billy Porter is secretly an "introvert"

Asked what makes him smile, he told Town and Country magazine: "True kindness. You wouldn't know it but... I'm an introvert. I know how to be an extrovert because my job requires it. But if you want to know the real me, I'm a home boy, I want to be with my friends. It's something that has shifted over the years; I think I started out as an extrovert as a young person."

Billy is currently starring opposite Marisha Wallace in the long-running West End revival of 'Cabaret' and has really embraced being in the English capital because it has been "really healing" experience for him.

He said: "My whole life is the greatest thing that ever happened. As a black gay man on this earth in this time. What's so great about London? I love the people, the architecture. I love how art is still for everyone, even though I know you guys are holding onto that concept by a thread. I love the fashion here, it is open and fun and not muted by masculine tropes. I also love the sex positivity in London - it is very healing to me.

" The need for us to always rate and rank drives me crazy. But if I had to give one, it would be the relationship with my mother, which has shifted from something that was distanced and separate because of queerness and religion to a togetherness. Your epitaph would read... 'He loved unconditionally and was loved'.

Meanwhile, the 'Cinderella' star is a big advocate for the issue of climate change, and has no idea how to solve things other than just "showing up" and trying his best.

He said: "Being conscious enough to understand we are destroying the planet and to be aware of the little things we can do as individuals to make a difference. None of us can do it alone. We have to engage in possible solutions.

I don't know; no one knows. All we can do is keep showing up. It's a collective choice and requires collective action. Your greatest failure? I don't think in terms of failure. Everything happens for a reason and our perceived failures are always the greatest life lessons."