High-energy star pumped about Atlanta series
LOS ANGELES — All things considered, Brian Tyree Henry should be wiped out.
The breakout star of FX’s Atlanta flew in from New York just a few hours earlier to attend the première of the second season of the offbeat comedy, which returned Thursday. He was to catch the red-eye back right after the event so he can resume rehearsing for the upcoming Broadway production Lob-by Hero, by acclaimed writer Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea).
But battling jet lag and a lack of sleep hasn’t dampened Henry’s mood on this frosty February afternoon as he settles into a booth at a West Hollywood lounge. Joking and animated, he describes in rapid-fire words what it’s like to be caught in a whirlwind.
“I’m exhausted beyond belief,” he says, his hands gesturing in front of his Janet Jackson T-shirt. “It’s like I’m one of the Looney Tunes characters who has been shot out of a catapult. But it’s all good, and it’s all worth it.”
Being exhausted and excited makes sense given that Henry experienced a year in which he was featured in one of TV’s hottest comedies, earned an Emmy nomination for his work on one of TV’s hottest dramas (This Is Us), worked on several films with top names including Oscar winners Viola Davis, Jodie Foster and director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), and is again Broadway-bound.
“I’ve been doing this for 11 years, and to have this kind of breakout moment is fantastic,” says Henry, who first made a splash originating the role of “The General” in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. “I don’t even want to call it a moment, because I want it to last.”
He is particularly pumped about Atlanta, the series created and produced by Donald Glover about two cousins manoeuvring awkwardly through the city’s hiphop music scene. Henry earned raves as rough-edged rapper Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles who is armed with both a withering glare and a pistol.
The first season drew widespread acclaim and scored two major Emmy wins — lead actor and director for a comedy for Glover — as well as a nomination for comedy.
A key story line in the first season revolved around Paper Boi’s grassroots success. His celebrity factor was bolstered by street cred due to his involvement in a shooting. Seeing an opportunity to make money, Alfred’s hapless cousin Earn (Glover), a Princeton dropout bordering on homelessness, becomes his manager.
In person, Henry is considerably more approachable and goodhumoured than his often ill-tempered, weed-smoking alter ego.
“When I first read the script and saw who Albert was, I fell in love with him,” says Henry, who graduated from Morehouse College and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama. “I immediately knew who this guy is. He’s like every cousin I have, like every best friend I still have.”
“I also want to make sure I do him justice,” he adds. “He has a protection about him, which is why he has a distance. He was born and raised in Atlanta, and he saw everyone he knows leave, and he’s had to figure out a way to survive there. But he’s one of the most loving people I’ve ever seen. He will do anything for the people he cares about.”