Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by Brian Tyree Henry

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Brian Tyree Henry.

Last updated on November 21, 2024.

Brian Tyree Henry is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the FX comedy-drama series Atlanta (2016–present), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He is also known for his performances in Boardwalk Empire, How to Get Away with Murder, and This Is Us.

American - Actor | Born: March 31, 1981

Source: Wikipedia

When I was three years old, one of the first albums I ever heard was Michael Jackson's 'Off the Wall.'

Brian Tyree Henry

I don't think I'm going to be back on 'This Is Us.' I think that Uncle Ricky had his moment; he did what he had to do.

Brian Tyree Henry

When people ask me, 'Are you a singer?' I say, 'No, I'm not a 'singer' - but I love the craft of singing,' going in and finding out what that means or why the hell I'm singing in the first place. My thing is really the craft of it.

Brian Tyree Henry

Every time you get in front of the lights and the cameras and you think, 'Okay, well, we've done this before, but we have to do it again? Oh, we're doing it again? We're doing it again?' It's so gratifying, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I hope I won't.

Brian Tyree Henry

Acting really started for me because I was in a house full of adults. They never shielded their lives from me. They were adults going through this world doing what they had to do. I used to like to watch them and imitate them. They all have their own distinct personalities; even though they're family, we couldn't be more different people.

Brian Tyree Henry

I'm a big guy: I look like a linebacker, you know? But no one cares, really, that I'm educated. I have a copy of 'Fire Next Time' by James Baldwin in my bag. I have an Ibsen play in there, too. I have to walk through this world with that duality all the time, that I live in two different worlds.

Brian Tyree Henry

There's something about being onstage, man. No matter what age I am or where I'm going, theater will constantly be the thing that accepts me and embraces me.

Brian Tyree Henry

I always say I'm not going to work: I'm going to play with my friends.

Brian Tyree Henry

You play the honesty of the characters and show a side of them that people can relate to and want to get to know.

Brian Tyree Henry

I was in show choir in high school.

Brian Tyree Henry

At Morehouse, I found myself and my voice, and I didn't want to lose that at Yale.

Brian Tyree Henry

My father had one of the biggest vinyl collections I've ever seen.

Brian Tyree Henry

Perceptions really do define what our realities are. What we're hoping to do with 'Atlanta' is to really shatter that. To shatter it completely wide open. To go from the furthest lane of absurdity to the furthest lane of reality and make them blend.

Brian Tyree Henry

My mom loved road trips, and sometimes we'd drive down to North Carolina. Though my parents were separated, she wanted me to stay connected with my dad.

Brian Tyree Henry

Being in a club - clubs are, like, not my favorite thing.

Brian Tyree Henry

My mother had a gorgeous singing voice, and she'd play these amazing vinyls. My favorite was 'But Not for Me,' on the 1954 album 'Chet Baker Sings.'

Brian Tyree Henry

You see the Paper Bois - easy. Personas are easy to touch and see and digest. But you don't get the chance to really see who the Alfreds are. I want to make sure I did that with him.

Brian Tyree Henry

I hope Paper Boi runs for president. I hope he does. Governor, mayor, senator, I hope he does it all. You better believe it.

Brian Tyree Henry

I never thought that 'Atlanta' would go off and do what it was gonna do. I never thought that I would get recognized for that show the way that I have been.

Brian Tyree Henry

I learned everything I know about music from my parents and my sisters.

Brian Tyree Henry

You can't share your magic with everyone. Your job is to live within your magic. And if other magical people find you, then let's go and make a brew.

Brian Tyree Henry

Sometimes, you need someone to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself.

Brian Tyree Henry

I went to college in Atlanta, so I know that city.

Brian Tyree Henry

I'm a huge pin collector.

Brian Tyree Henry

I've discovered people in my lifetime who are like, 'I always wanted to sing but... ' It's like, 'Well then, did you try?' My thing was always not caring about failure.

Brian Tyree Henry

People like to use the word 'naivete' as a negative, but not for me.

Brian Tyree Henry

I hope that there's a little black boy somewhere in Montana that never thought that he would see a reflection of himself, and he turns on the television, like, 'Oh my God, thank you.'

Brian Tyree Henry

Really trying to find the people who really ride for you and are down for you, that's hard.

Brian Tyree Henry

After my mother and father separated when I was 5, my mother moved to Washington, D.C., and my father remained in North Carolina. Later, I moved to New York and would often drive down to D.C. to see her. We'd ride around together talking and listening to music.

Brian Tyree Henry

Atlanta's a great city to cultivate your own thing - from fashion to music to food.

Brian Tyree Henry

Atlanta has become and has always been a place where you create your own universe.

Brian Tyree Henry

In my household growing up in Fayetteville, N.C., music was the great communicator between my parents and me.

Brian Tyree Henry

Music has always been a part of my life, and it helps me a lot because it speaks for me when I can't speak for myself.

Brian Tyree Henry

The most important thing I feel in the acting profession is to create a community that reflects you back to you.

Brian Tyree Henry

If you are conscious and really want change in this world, and you don't vote, then what was all the fighting for? All the things our parents and our parents' parents fought for?

Brian Tyree Henry

I think that Atlanta has this huge well of black culture and openness to share all the things that we have made there.

Brian Tyree Henry

Yale was one of the best moments in my life - also one of the hardest. I learned about community.

Brian Tyree Henry

I stay in contact with my castmates from 'Atlanta' almost every day.

Brian Tyree Henry

I was in a musical for a while, and I sing around the house all the time, but I don't ever think of myself as a singer.

Brian Tyree Henry

I was working with the likes of Steve McQueen, Matthew McConaughey, Viola Davis, just running the gamut.

Brian Tyree Henry

The rap scene is so unique. Every rapper has to bring their own thing.

Brian Tyree Henry

I love the element of surprise, throwing people off of what they think they know about what I can do and who I am. I just want to keep doing that.

Brian Tyree Henry

I say this all the time: All I know is I know nothing at all.

Brian Tyree Henry

It's really humbling and gratifying to see that people are finally realizing that we are talented and we have things to say and that our stories are just like your stories. There's no reason that anybody from Wisconsin or Turkey can't relate to 'Atlanta.'

Brian Tyree Henry

My school had the dopest arts program - the dopest show choir, the dopest marching band. I couldn't sing or play an instrument a lick, but I was just going to fake it till I make it.

Brian Tyree Henry

The great thing about James Baldwin and his writing is that it's still fresh every time you pick it up. That's also the sad thing about his writing sometimes, too.

Brian Tyree Henry

My father was retired military, and my mother was an educator. She was incredibly creative. I used to love going to her school during the summer and helping her decorate her classroom. I would draw Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck. She was a sixth grade teacher. She and my father are the ones that got me into my love of music.

Brian Tyree Henry

I'm very grateful, first of all, for my friends and my family because they keep me grounded, and they make sure I'm taking care of myself and that I'm keeping my sanity about me.

Brian Tyree Henry

What does it serve any studio to not reflect the lives of people who are giving you money, who are crying out to you, 'Hey, please tell our stories.'

Brian Tyree Henry

You can put Trump in the White House, but you need to prepare for a revolt because I'm going nuts.

Brian Tyree Henry

Hug your mom. Hug your mom and thank your mom.

Brian Tyree Henry

I discovered that acting gave me this spark, this thing. Honestly, it was a way to survive.

Brian Tyree Henry

Hip-hop is not about pretense. You can be missing an eye; you can have an ice-cream cone in your face; you can run around with Bantu knots; you can decide to wear gold, all everything. It's not about how you look - it's about what you say. It's about what message you're getting across.

Brian Tyree Henry

Life should be art, right?

Brian Tyree Henry

Aja Naomi is one of my good friends.

Brian Tyree Henry

I was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is where J. Cole is from. I went up to Washington, D.C., where my mother moved, to stay with her, and then moved back to North Carolina to finish junior high and high school.

Brian Tyree Henry

On top of trying to find my way in this business and losing my mother and trying to figure out what family meant to me and everything - 2016, there was a lot of anger from me and a lot of anger all around. I think the hardest part was to really realize that all these things, it's worth it.

Brian Tyree Henry

The projects that I've been fortunate enough to do are all projects where I followed my heart. I didn't follow the money or the names. It's all about reflecting my life and my art.

Brian Tyree Henry

Theater's literally where I started.

Brian Tyree Henry

I love that you can just walk into the club and hear Young Jeezy or hear Fetty, and it's on.

Brian Tyree Henry