Brian Tyree Henry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brian Tyree Henry
Henry in 2019
Born	(1982-03-31) March 31, 1982 (age 42) Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
Education	Morehouse College (BA) Yale University (MFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2007–present

Brian Tyree Henry (born March 31, 1982) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as rapper Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the FX comedy-drama series Atlanta (2016–2022), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

His other television roles were in Boardwalk Empire, This Is Us and How to Get Away with Murder. Henry made his film breakthrough in 2018 with roles in Steve McQueen's heist film Widows and Barry Jenkins' romantic drama If Beale Street Could Talk. He has since appeared in Child's Play (2019), Joker (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), The Woman in the Window (2021), Bullet Train (2022), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024). He portrayed Phastos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals (2021), and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a grieving man in the drama film Causeway (2022).

Henry has also appeared on stage, making his debut performance in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet (2007), and acting in various plays at the Public Theatre, before appearing in the original Broadway cast of The Book of Mormon (2011). In 2014, he appeared in the off-Broadway musical The Fortress of Solitude. For his performance in the 2018 Broadway revival of Kenneth Lonergan's play Lobby Hero, he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Early life

Henry was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina and raised partly in Washington, D.C. His father was in the military, and his mother, Willow Dean Kearse, was an educator. Henry attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia as a business major-turned-actor in the early 2000s, and received his master's degree from Yale School of Drama.

Career

2007–2015: Early career

Henry began his career on stage, with roles in numerous plays and musicals. In 2007, he starred as Tybalt in Shakespeare in the Park's production of Romeo and Juliet. Henry also appeared in Tarell Alvin McCraney's trilogy of plays, titled The Brother/Sister Plays. In 2011, he received further success in his Broadway debut as a part of the original cast of the musical The Book of Mormon opposite Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells.

Henry made guest appearances in television series such as NBC's Law & Order, and CBS's The Good Wife. In 2013 he had a brief but recurring role as Winston Scrapper in HBO's Boardwalk Empire appearing in the episodes "Havre de Grace" and "Farewell Daddy Blues". The following year he appeared in of Steven Soderbergh's Cinemax series The Knick as Larkin in the episode "The Busy Flea". He made his feature film debut in the 2015 comedy film Puerto Ricans in Paris.

2016–present: Breakthrough

In 2016, Henry received critical acclaim and recognition for his starring role as Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the FX comedy-drama series Atlanta. For his performance in the series, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in the episode "Woods". Chase Hutchinson of Collider declared Henry the "show's best character" writing, "Uniting [Atlanta] is the irreplaceable Henry's sense of presence and vulnerability he conveys as an actor, an element of the show that would not be the same without him. It makes him one of the best parts of the series and one of the best actors working today for all he manages to do in even the simplest of moments."

From 2016 to 2017, he acted as Dascious Brown in the HBO comedy series Vice Principals. In 2017, Henry appeared as Ricky in the NBC drama series This Is Us, for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. That same year he starred in Dustin Guy Defa's drama film Person to Person and Matt Ruskin's Crown Heights.

In 2018, he returned to Broadway in the revival of Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero opposite Chris Evans, Bel Powley, and Michael Cera. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter hailed Henry as "terrific" and cited him as "the production's standout performance". For his performance he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Also in 2018, Henry made his film breakthrough appearing in seven films. He appeared in Steve McQueen's acclaimed heist film Widows portraying Jamal Manning, a crime boss and politician in the Chicago. Alissa Wilkinson of Vox declared "Brian Tyree Henry continues his run as the actor to watch, thanks to his appearance here as a charismatic and menacing political candidate." He also appeared in Barry Jenkins' romantic drama film If Beale Street Could Talk based on the 1974 James Baldwin novel of the same name. For his performances in both films he received a nomination from the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year he portrayed Jefferson Davis in the animated superhero film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. That same year he also starred in the dystopian thriller film Hotel Artemis, and the crime drama White Boy Rick.

In 2019, he appeared in Todd Phillips's psychological drama Joker, the science fiction horror film Don't Let Go and the horror film Child's Play, the latter being a remake of the 1988 film. The following year he appeared in The Outside Story and Superintelligence. ..... He also has recurring roles as Armando in the Fox animated series HouseBroken (2021–present), and as Elijah in the Netflix animated series Big Mouth (2022).

In 2021, he starred as Bernie Hayes in Godzilla vs. Kong alongside Millie Bobby Brown and as Phastos in the Marvel Studios film Eternals directed by Chloe Zhao. In 2022, he starred in David Leitch's action comedy Bullet Train opposite Brad Pitt. In his final role of the year, Henry starred in Lila Neugebauer's A24 drama Causeway opposite Jennifer Lawrence as mechanic James Aucoin. Henry received critical acclaim for his performance, garnering Academy Award, Critics' Choice, Gotham Award, and Independent Spirit Award nominations. In a review for The Independent, Adam White wrote: "Henry lends each hushed gap in James's tale the feel of a sledgehammer." Mary Siroky for Consequence praised Henry's performance and said that he "is so grounded here that there are moments we feel like we are intruding into his life."

Henry is set to voice a younger Megatron in the animated film Transformers One, making him the first Black actor to voice the character. In 2024, he became the new voice of Smokey Bear (also the first Black actor to voice the character).

Personal life

Henry's mother, Willow Deane Kearse, died in early 2016. The Atlanta episode "Woods" was dedicated to her.

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Puerto Ricans in Paris	Spencer
2017	Person to Person	Mike
	Crown Heights	Clayton "Massup" Benton
2018	Irreplaceable You	Benji
	Family	Pete
	Hotel Artemis	Honolulu/Lev
	White Boy Rick	Det. Mel "Roach" Jackson
	Widows	Jamal Manning
	If Beale Street Could Talk	Daniel Carty
	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse	Jefferson Davis (voice)
2019	Don't Let Go	Garret Radcliff
	Child's Play	Detective Mike Norris
	Joker	Carl
2020	The Outside Story	Charles Young
	Superintelligence	Dennis Caruso
2021	Godzilla vs. Kong	Bernie Hayes
	The Woman in the Window	Detective Little
	Vivo	Dancarino (voice)
	Eternals	Phastos
2022	Bullet Train	Lemon
	Causeway	James Aucoin
2023	The Magician's Elephant	Leo Matienne (voice)
	Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse	Jeff Morales (voice)
	The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story	Jefferson Davis (voice)	Short film
2024	Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire	Bernie Hayes
	Transformers One	Megatron (voice)
	The Fire Inside	Jason Crutchfield	Post-production
TBA	Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse	Jefferson Davis (voice)	In production

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Brian Tyree Henry para niños In Spanish: Brian Tyree Henry para niños