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
'Atlanta' is really trying to put that out there: these are just the lives of these people in this city, and this city is its own breathing, living thing, too. So how do you navigate through life, especially with dreams and aspirations in a world that tells you that you don't deserve to have them.
I think that's the best thing about being black is that we find a way to make our own communities and always give room for people to pull up to our tables. We always provide a way for other people from different walks of life to come into the communities that we have built because we're so used to being excluded.
I never really thought about what kind of career I wanted to map out for myself. I just wanted to do work that spoke to my heart. 'Atlanta' definitely did that.
People like to use the word 'naivete' as a negative, but not for me.
At the end of the day, it's incredibly important to have a show like 'Atlanta' because if we can't stand up for and celebrate each other, then who will? Who will do it better?
It's not without its flaws - it's still the South and the Bible Belt - but Atlanta is one of those cities that's really good at uniting people.
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.
I am the product of those who believed in me.
TV can be a thread between all of us, and it can be a powerful tool to examine life and love and what we all have in common as humans.
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.'
Yale was one of the best moments in my life - also one of the hardest. I learned about community.
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.'
I think that Atlanta has this huge well of black culture and openness to share all the things that we have made there.
Being in a club - clubs are, like, not my favorite thing.
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?
Life should be art, right?
Things are constantly evolving, and anything could happen. And that's exciting to me.
I'm a huge pin collector.
I just remember watching my first theater class, and I was like, 'Oh I can get up there,' like I could absolutely get up and do this every day and learn about it.
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.
I usually get approached by older white ladies of a certain class, with their pearls and, you know, their Talbots on and everything, and they're like, 'We just have to say, we know we're not your demographic, but we love Paper Boi; we really love this show, and we love what you're doing.' It's totally cool.
Atlanta, in itself, is its own living, breathing thing.
I have been the hugest HBO fan since I was 3, watching programming that I had no business watching as a child.
I really love Instagram for the artwork.
I dare somebody to go to Atlanta and not have a good time.
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.
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.'
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.
In my household growing up in Fayetteville, N.C., music was the great communicator between my parents and me.
Atlanta's a great city to cultivate your own thing - from fashion to music to food.
Sometimes, you need someone to believe in you when you don't believe in yourself.
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.
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.
Just to say 'woke' is to always be in a constant stream of consciousness where you don't feel like the wool is pulled over your eyes so much. You question your belief that everything should just be presented to you on this beautiful plate. Everything is not as it seems.
That's the great thing about being an actor: getting the opportunity to do something that really speaks to you.
Acting, for me, was kind of a way of survival, honestly. I'm the baby boy out of four different sisters, and I grew up in a house with so many different personalities that acting was the only way to not go to therapy.
The humility keeps me going forward.
Every single person you can think of called me Paper Boi.
This is the city that kind of formulated who I am. And, not only that, but to be black in Atlanta is one of the greatest things because you can go anywhere and feel familiar with anyone who's right next to you, from Bankhead to Buckhead.
I used to draw and do a lot of calligraphy and typography. I'm a big sketcher, too.
Atlanta's the hub of black culture, and it's OK to be you there - it's the city that really shaped me to be who I am.
I couldn't believe there was going to be a show called 'Atlanta,' because that's my favorite city in the country. It's where I went to college. I have so many great friends that live there. It's where I discovered that I wanted to be an artist.
Really trying to find the people who really ride for you and are down for you, that's hard.
The most important thing I feel in the acting profession is to create a community that reflects you back to you.
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.
Theater's literally where I started.
I was in show choir in high school.
I hope Paper Boi runs for president. I hope he does. Governor, mayor, senator, I hope he does it all. You better believe it.
You play the honesty of the characters and show a side of them that people can relate to and want to get to know.
