Donald Glover’s award winning comedy Atlanta has returned for Season 2, starring Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred a.k.a Paper Boi, a rapper trying to understand the line between real life and street life as he attempts to adjust to his new found fame.
Henry graduated from Yale School of Drama and originated the role of “The General” in the critically acclaimed Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he received rave reviews. You may have also seen him in NBC’s This is Us, earning him an Emmy nomination. With a growing list of credits, Henry is a versatile actor whose career spans film, television and theatre.
Having gone to college in Atlanta, Alfred’s character reflected a lot of Henry’s friends in real life. Excited about securing the role, he reminisced: “oh I’ve got this dude, I have to do this dude!”
Pride had a chat with Atlanta breakout star Brian Tyree Henry about his character in the show, the importance of black narratives, difficult filming moments, working with Donald Glover and more!
Playing Alfred Miles a.k.a ‘Paper Boi’…
Anytime I talk about him, I always call him Alfred because I hold him very dear to my heart. He is happy, he can spread joy, but he protects those that he loves and Paper Boi is the persona that everybody else holds.
There’s a lot of parallels between he and I, I’m not as brave as Alfred and that’s one of my favourite things about playing him. I know what that essence is of being everything to all people and then nobody at all; I think that’s a lot of what he’s going through this season, oh I’m famous [but..] he didn’t necessarily ask for this thing.
It’s an exploration that I was very excited to delve into, because it reflected on all four of us, that kind of exposure has kind of happened over night. As much as I’m incredibly grateful for it, it’s still kind of scary because you don’t really know the certainty of it, it’s not a lot of protection, so you’ve got to find a way to protect the things that are important to you.
Not wanting to be a rapper…
No, no! The music industry is hard man, especially for a person of colour. People have their own notions of how they want you to present yourself […] I don’t have the discipline, I really don’t. In the music world, as you see in our show, its really fickle. One minute he’s out on the radio and the same minute getting a gun pulled to him. One minute you’re hot and the next you’re not, I think Alfred is trying to figure out what that means.
Favourite things about working with Donald Glover…
[Donald and Stephen Glover], their brotherhood is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and it’s something that I really admire. They bounce ideas off of each other right in front of you and you’re just like how the hell did you come up with that. They’re not embarrassed to show their love, to share their stories, they’re not embarrassed to be embarrassed and that to me is really authentic.
I try to look for a lot of roles that show brotherhood. There aren’t a lot of projects that show two black men riding for each other. I never thought of the day I would look up at a poster and see three black dudes next to each other (laughs). We’re actually working for each other and not trying to take each other down, it’s actually up-lifting.
ATLANTA Robbin’ Season — “North of the Border” — Season Two, Episode 9. Pictured: (l-r) Lakeith Stanfield as Darius, Donald Glover as Earnest Marks, Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred Miles. CR: Guy D’Alema/FX
Exploring black narratives…
I think that’s what we serve to do in Atlanta, is show all these different sides of blackness that people don’t necessarily know. That’s what’s so dope about us coming over here and looking at black people in the UK who are like “thank you, we see ourselves reflected in that” [or] “thanks for doing that for the culture”. It’s unlike any feeling in the world. It lets me know that blackness transcends any space and time, and we all have stories that we all can relate to no matter where we are.
To me, that is a gift and a curse, because it’s like: ah man you go through that too? Argh I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s also like ah you go through that too? That’s wassup. (laughs) You know what I mean.
It just speaks to all those norms and crazy disenfranchise things that we all go through and it brings us together no matter what. I’m sitting here talking to you and I feel like I’ve known you for years. That’s something that’s rare that’s happened within entertainment lately. Representation and diversity should have always been there. But we have those stories […] and I’m glad that there’s a venue for us to share them.
ATLANTA Robbin’ Season — “Woods” — Season Two, Episode 8. Pictured: Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred Miles. CR: Curtis Baker/FX
Most memorable episode…
[In season 1] Alfred spent a lot of time being hard, not being afraid to [rough] somebody up or speak about injustice. This season, there’s a big portion that needs to address his mental health.
The episode ‘Woods’ that we did, I have to give all praises to Stephanie Robinson […] being one of our only female writers. The episode opens on the anniversary of his mothers death, he only hears her, he never sees her. He gets mugged, then he runs off in the woods and he’s completely lost in a territory that he’s known his whole life, and that’s to me what lost feels like.
I went through a personal loss of losing my mother at the end of the first season. […] I never really got a chance to confront that bereavement. That episode was incredibly therapeutic and cathartic. People look at the success of what I’m going through and think oh he’s good he’s alright but there’s moments like, she’s still not here, and [similarly] Alfred also had to confront.
And also, let us black men cry man, at the end of the day there’s nothing wrong with holding your hands up and saying I need help and saying yeah I am scared.
I think that is something Brian Tyree Henry had to ask for himself, is it worth it, are you able to make that choice of succumbing to the pain or stepping up to the plate and live this life […] Luckily I’m sitting her talking to you about it, because I could have made the opposite choice […] This show has been such a healing process.
Future projects…
There’s a lot of great projects happening, Hotel Artermis is coming out. […] I’m really excited for people to see different sides of me, because I don’t want to just be in the box of Paper Boi, I want people to see that this is something I really love to do. There’s different types of people out there for me to play.
Interview by Rhia Harry
Atlanta Robbin’ Season continues Sundays at 10pm on FOX.
