Brian Tyree Henry

Brian Tyree Henry may be best known for his recurring role as “Paper Boi” on FX’s hit series, Atlanta (2016-2022), but he rapidly became a widely acclaimed big-screen actor known for his range across styles and genres, starting with his big-screen debut in the comedy, Puerto Ricans in Paris (2015), co-starring Luis Guzman and Edgar Garcia under co-writer Ian Edelman’s direction and released by Focus World. Henry joined the ensemble of director/writer Dustin Guy Defa’s New York indie movie, Person to Person (2017), co-starring Abbi Jacobson, Michael Cera, Tavi Gevinson, Bene Coppersmith, George Sample III, Philip Baker Hall, Isaiah Whitlock, Jr., and Benny Safdie, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Henry appeared in another 2017 Sundance premiering movie as he was cast in a supporting role by director/writer/producer Matt Ruskin in his fine true-story crime drama, Crown Heights (2017), starring an excellent Lakeith Stanfield, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Nestor Carbonell, and Ron Canada, and released by Amazon Studios/IFC Films. Henry landed his first major film role in director/writer Laura Steinel’s indie comedy, Family (2019), starring Taylor Schilling, Kate McKinnon, and Peter Horton and premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival before a limited release by The Film Arcade.

Brian Tyree Henry joined another American indie director/writer—Drew Pearce—for the cast of the futurist crime drama, Hotel Artemis (2018), with Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day and Dave Bautista, and which lost money for distributors Global Road Entertainment (US) and Lionsgate (ex-US), and then Henry played a detective in the true-crime drama, White Boy Rick (2018), with Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Bel Powley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rory Cochrane, Eddie Marsan, Bruce Dern, and Piper Laurie, premiering at the Telluride Film Festival and losing money for Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing.

Henry joined the impressive ensemble of Steve McQueen’s dynamic revenge crime drama, Widows (2018), starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson, and grossed $76 million for 20^th Century Fox after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.

Henry collaborated with another major Black filmmaker, Barry Jenkins, for Jenkins’ well-received James Baldwin adaptation of his 1974 novel, If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), co-starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James and Oscar-winning supporting actress Regina King, and earning $21 million for Annapurna Pictures. Henry was cast in his first studio franchise as the voice of Spider-Man’s dad, New York cop Jefferson Davis, in Marvel/Sony’s well-liked animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (date to be announced), featuring the voices of Shameik Moore as Miles/Spider-Man and Hailee Steinfeld, with the first two entries grossing over $1.7 billion worldwide earnings.

Brian Tyree Henry then joined the cast of director/writer Jacob Aaron Estes’ sci-fi horror movie for  Blumhouse Productions, Don’t Let Go (2019), starring David Oyelowo, Storm Reid, Byron Mann, Mykelti Williamson and Alfred Molina, returning a tepid $5.3 million after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, and then Henry joined another horror movie, the Lars Klevberg-directed remake of the 1988 movie, Orion Pictures/United Artists Releasing’s Child’s Play (2019), with Aubrey Plaza and Mark Hamill, delivering a profitable $45 million gross. Henry was cast in a small supporting role in director/co-writer/producer Todd Phillips’s controversial, Oscar-winning Joker (2019), starring Joaquin Phoenix (who won the Oscar for best actor), with Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy, grossing an astounding $1.08 billion for Warner Bros. after winning the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Henry had his first starring role in director/writer/producer Casimir Nozkowski’s New York comedy-drama, The Outside Story (2020), with Sonequa Martin-Green, Sunita Mani, Olivia Edward, and Asia Kate Dillon, and released by Samuel Goldwyn Films, followed by Henry working in another big-scale franchise in the role of whistleblower-conspiracy theorist Bernie in both Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), both starring Rebecca Hall and directed by Adam Wingard and grossing a cumulative $1.4 billion globally for Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. and Toho. Henry performed the voice of a love-smacked spoonbill bird opposite Nicole Byer in co-writer/director Kirk DeMicco’s animated movie backed by Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation, Vivo (2021), co-starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, Michael Rooker, Gloria Estefan and released theatrically and on streaming by Netflix.

Brian Tyree Henry was cast in the eclectic ensemble for the standalone MCU “Phase Four” epic, Eternals (2021), co-starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Barry Keoghan, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie under co-writer Chloe Zhao’s direction, receiving mixed reviews and earning a mediocre $402 million (against $236 million budget) for Marvel Studios/Disney. Henry then joined the energetic ensemble of Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, and Sandra Bullock in the David Leitch-directed action comedy, Bullet Train (2022), based on Kotaro Isaka’s 2010 novel Maria Beetle and released by Sony Pictures to a profitable $239 million return.

Henry earned his first Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for his nuanced performance in Causeway (2022), starring Jennifer Lawrence, Linda Emond, and Jayne Houdyshell under Lila Neugebauer’s direction and co-written by Ottessa Moshfegh, and released by A24 after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Henry returned to voice work in animated features in his co-starring role as Megatron vs. Chris Hemsworth’s Optimus Prime in Paramount Animation/Hasbro/Paramount Pictures’ Transformers One (2024), directed by Josh Cooley with a voice cast including Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

Brian Tyree Henry co-starred with Ryan Destiny and Judy Greer under Rachel Morrison’s direction in Amazon MGM Studios’ sports biopic, The Fire Inside (2024), written by Barry Jenkins and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Henry then played opposite Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Jaboukie Young-White, Tim Meadows, and Anderson. Paak and Missy Elliott in the Michel Gondry-directed musical based on Pharrell Williams’ childhood, Atlantis (2025), released by Universal Pictures.