Dyllón Burnside

Dyllón Burnside is an American actor and singer. He is known for his role as Ricky Evangelista, a dancer, in the FX television series Pose.[1][2]

Dyllón Burnside
Born
Dyllón Burnside

(1989-01-27) January 27, 1989
Miami, Florida, U.S.
OccupationActor, singer
Years active2014–present

Career

Burnside got his first start at age 12 when he performed as the lead singer of hip-hop/R&B boy band “3D” with 2 of his cousins and managed by his mother, touring with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Rihanna, with a distribution deal with Atlantic Records and performing in venues including Madison Square Garden and the Nokia Theater.[3][4] After 10 years, he began feeling constricted by fronting a boy band and wanted to explore arts less traditionally masculine: "The things that I was interested in didn’t necessarily align with my family’s or society’s idea of what it meant to be a man. ... I can still be a male and sing Mozart or take a ballet class and that it not have anything to do with anything other than I wanted to take a ballet class."[4] As a result, he enrolled at the CAP21 conservatory to take a vocal major, moved to New York City and took acting and dance classes[3][4] including studying for a bachelor's degree in media studies and writing from The New School.[3]

While at CAP21, Burnside starred in the Tupac-inspired musical Holler if Ya Hear Me on Broadway in 2014, where he played Anthony.[5][3][6][7][8] While studying Burnside was also a part of NBC's Peter Pan Live!,[3][9] HBO's High Maintenance[3] and performed in BeBe Winans's musical Born For This in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C.[4]

Burnside has also worked as a film producer on the award-winning short The Jump and as theatrical producer on Hold Up The Light at the non-profit Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.[3] He has also taught performing arts workshops and has spoken at schools about how studying performing arts can be empowering and help young people find their means of self-expression.[3]

Burnside emceed a benefit concert, duetting with Pose co-stars Billy Porter and Ryan Jamaal Swain to celebrate the Pose season 1 finale on July 23, 2018, raising money for GLSEN,[7][9][4][10] and talking about his coming out story and speaking with former Vibe editor-in-chief Emil Wilbekin about the importance of safe spaces for LGBTQ people.[10]

Personal life

Burnside grew up on a ranch in Pensacola, Florida.[3] His family raised farm animals including: chickens, cows, horses and pigs.

Burnside has spoken about toxic masculinity: "All of the work that I seek to do and the work I want to do is about pushing the boundaries or blurring the lines of what it means to be a man. I think manhood as a construct is very dangerous and has caused a lot of pain and destruction in our world"[4] and recognises the importance of Pose for representing LGBTQ people of color.[6][11] For National Coming Out Day 2019, he wrote about the importance of acceptance and representation, "which is why I stand so firmly in my truth and speak openly about my experience".[12] He has described influences including bell hooks, James Baldwin, Eckhart Tolle and Marianne Williamson,[4] as well as gospel music being a part of going to church that spoke to him.[4]

In an interview for Men's Health magazine in September 2020, Burnside described his identity as "queer, not gay", describing that he has had "relationships — romantic and sexual — with women as well as men", adding that "for me, queerness is about understanding that I exist outside of the sexual binary of just gay or straight".[13][14]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2016 Misunderstood Sin Short film
2017 Central Park Christian
2018 Yinz Shane Tompkins

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2014 High Maintenance Lionel Episode: "Genghis"
2014 Peter Pan Live! Prickles Television movie
2018–present Pose Ricky 14 episodes

References
  1. Roschke, Ryan (July 21, 2018). "Pose Is Actually Changing People's Lives, and Dyllón Burnside Has Proof". PopSugar. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  2. "Dyllón Burnside Is Pumping Up the Volume". Chill. Here Media. June 7, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  3. "Dyllón Burnside as Ricky in Pose on FX". FX Networks. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  4. Daniels, Christopher Leo (July 20, 2018). "Dyllón Burnside, A Study of a Crush, Part I". Crush Fanzine. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  5. Holler if Ya Hear Me at the Internet Broadway Database
  6. Reign, Eva (July 20, 2018). "All Hail the Beautiful, Black Gay Love on Pose". them. Condé Nast. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  7. Feldman, Adam (July 17, 2018). "Dyllón Burnside: Up Close and Personal". Time Out New York. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  8. "Pose ball scenes a high-energy 'sensory overload'". am New York. Retrieved August 26, 2018.(Link not available in the European Union)
  9. Hetrick, Adam (July 14, 2018). "FX's Pose Stars, Dyllón Burnside, Mj Rodriguez, and Ryan Jamaal Swain, Will Perform NYC Concert". Playbill. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  10. "To Be Real: The Cast Of Pose Gives Back — Already! — At NYC GLSEN Benefit". Boy Culture. July 24, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  11. Roschke, Ryan (July 21, 2018). "Pose Is Actually Changing People's Lives, and Dyllón Burnside Has Proof". PopSugar. Retrieved August 26, 2018. We've seen the painful kind of love. We've seen the closet cases and the DL brothers. And we've seen interracial couples. But we haven't seen two black queer boys trying to figure out what it means to be attracted to each other and to have intimate feelings for each other, and to kind of figure out what to do with those things.
  12. Burnside, Dyllón (October 11, 2019). "I encourage every one of you to live your most full, authentic and fulfilling life. ..." Retrieved October 20, 2019 – via Instagram. I encourage every one of you to live your most full, authentic and fulfilling life. I believe coming out is a truly personal and individual journey. I look forward to the day when no child or adult feels the pressure of having to explain their identity and existence for the comfort of the masses. That being said, I also recognize the need for visibility and representation, which is why I stand so firmly in my truth and speak openly about my experience. Grateful for this day and what it represents but will be even more grateful when it’s no longer necessary.
  13. Freedman, Adrianna (September 17, 2020). "Dyllón Burnside on Being Queer: 'I Exist Outside of the Sexual Binary of Just Gay or Straight'". Men's Health. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  14. "Queer Black and Brilliant: Dyllón Burnside and the art of Self". Men's Health Friday Sessions. September 11, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020 – via Instagram. I just want to assert that I identify as queer, not gay. Some might think it's semantics but for me it's important. ... My experience of my sexuality has been one that is a bit more fluid and a bit more complex than just identifying as gay. I've dated women and have had many relationships — romantic and sexual — with women as well as men. But I don't identify as bisexual. And I think that, the more that we understand sexuality as something that exists on a spectrum and is not so black-and-white, the more we can better understand humanity as a whole. And so, for me, the term queer just opens up space. It opens up space in our language and language is a technology, a technology by which we come to understand the world. And so I think, for me, queerness is about understanding that I exist outside of the sexual binary of just gay or straight.
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