Actor Porter was born in Los Angeles and moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at age 8. She grew up on a river just outside of Escanaba, Michigan and spent her childhood catching frogs, climbing trees and raising prize-winning goats and rabbits (seriously).

Porter did theatre every so often growing up, but didn’t fully catch the bug until she played the title role in Annie her senior year of high school. Other high school activities included student government (Class Treasurer), cheerleading, Chorale, dance (jazz and tap), and writing for the school paper.

Porter attended Northern Michigan University where she double majored in English and Theatre. She was Secretary of the Student Body as well as a member of Mortarboard National Honor Society and Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society. Upon graduation, she was chosen from thousands of students to be named Outstanding Graduating Senior by the National Association for University Women. Porter’s favorite college roles range from Constance in the 18th century farce She Stoops to Conquer to Little Red Ridinghood in the Sondheim musical Into the Woods (“The best Little Red Ridinghood I’ve seen on any stage, and this comes from a Sondheim fanatic who saw the original work eight times!”-Dr. James Panowski)

Immediately following graduation, Porter toured with Missoula Children's Theatre in several productions, visiting 37 states and 3 Canadian provinces and performing in venues ranging from school gymnasiums to multi-million dollar Broadway national touring facilities. She also appeared in a story about MCT on NBC’s Today.

Porter then moved to Chicago where she graduated from the Second City Conservatory and performed in dozens of theatre productions. One of her most cherished moments in Chicago theatre came when she performed in Studs Terkel’s Working. The Pulitzer Prize winner himself came to see the show, announcing to the audience afterward: “I’ve seen many wonderful productions of this show at such places as The Goodman and on Broadway…but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it performed as I originally intended–with heart.” He thanked Porter personally for her “beautiful, heartfelt” rendition of “Millwork.”

Porter is a graduate of iO West where she was a founding member of the long-form improv show Tigerpants which ran until the theatre closed in 2018. Porter performed with Tigerpants for its first three years. She also performed with the highly acclaimed DVDevious: the Improvised DVD, and spent seven years as a mainstage performer in both improv and sketch at ACME Comedy Theatre where she also taught improv.

Television appearances include comedies like THE OFFICE, NEW GIRL and SUPERSTORE as well as dramas like MANIFEST, THE BLACKLIST and FBI: MOST WANTED.  She has performed in dozens of national commercials for such clients as AT&T, Nissan, McDonald’s, Hallmark, American Express, Oscar Mayer, Trident, and many more. She taught a Commercial Audition Workshop in Los Angeles for over 10 years and still does private coaching. See the "News" section of this site for the latest career updates.

Porter is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, as well as an Emmy-voting member of the Television Academy. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. In her spare time, Porter mentors teen writers for an award-winning non-profit organization called WriteGirl and hangs out with her dog, Peaseblossom.