Brian Tyree Henry

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.

Brian Tyree Henry (born March 31, 1982) is an American actor.

Henry graduated from E.E. Smith High School and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia as a business major-turned-actor in the early 2000s.

He received his master's degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Henry began his career on stage, with roles in numerous plays and musicals.

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 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 Steven Soderbergh's Cinemax series The Knick as Larkin in the episode "The Busy Flea".

In 2014 he appeared in the off-Broadway musical The Fortress of Solitude.

He made his feature film debut in the 2015 comedy film Puerto Ricans in Paris.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 has since appeared in Child's Play (2019), Joker (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), The Woman in the Window (2021), and Bullet Train (2022).

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).

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.

During this time he also appeared in the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman, the HBO anthology series Room 104, and portrayed Berry Gordy an episode of the Comedy Central sketch series Drunk History.

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).