For busy actor Brian Tyree Henry, a change between projects seems to be as good as a rest

If you ask Brian Tyree Henry about taking time off, he bursts out laughing.

Since breaking out as rapper Paper Boi in the FX series “Atlanta,” he’s become one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. He’s worked consistently — with directors including Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen and Chloe Zhao and big-name actors like Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Hemsworth and Melissa McCarthy. Henry’s been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and an Oscar.

His latest role is in the limited series “Dope Thief” for Apple TV+ premiering Friday. Henry and Wagner Moura play Ray and Manny, two longtime friends in Philadelphia who pose as federal agents, conducting fake raids to steal drugs and money. It’s a series of easy scores until they rob the wrong people and become targets themselves. Soon they’re hiding out from the real DEA and a drug kingpin while trying to keep their family safe.

“The minute that Wagner and I met each other, it was an instant electricity… We just felt like we knew each other all our lives,” said Henry. “That is exactly what you needed for Ray and Manny.”

The first episode was directed by Ridley Scott, and the series was created and written by Peter Craig, adapted from a novel by Dennis Tafoya.

Craig describes Henry’s versatility as an actor as “like a jazz musician… It’s fantastic for a writer, because you can throw him all kinds of added moments, and he’ll incorporate and use them all.”

When the opportunity to star in “Dope Thief” came about, Henry was ready for that long-awaited break — from TV. He wrapped “Atlanta” and had “about two days off” before going into another FX show, “Class of ‘09,” where he played a character’s past, present and future, and he was exhausted.

“Television is hard, you know? Like, I hear myself complaining about it; I know it’s a first world problem, but you get very attached when you’re doing a series. You’re living with the character for quite a long time.”

So, there Henry was at 3 a.m. on a night shoot of “Class of ‘09,” wearing prosthetics as his character’s future self, when his manager presented him with the script for “Dope Thief.” “Within the first 10 pages I was incredibly attracted to Ray and also the bond he has with Manny.”

Time off otherwise really hasn’t been his thing (hence the laughter), but Henry is quick to remind that he’s had two long breaks from acting. One was during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, and the other was during the Hollywood strikes.

“When you’re a person that’s constantly on the move and the universe tells you to sit your (expletive) down, you kind of have to listen,” said Henry. “I don’t think I would have stopped had the universe not said stop.”

Production was underway on “Dope Thief” when the Hollywood guild strikes were called in 2023. Henry opted to stay in Philadelphia.

“I didn’t go anywhere. I made sure to be there just in case,” said Henry, who for the first time was an executive producer on the project. He wanted to be close in proximity to his local crew. They had a cookout with bouncy castles. “I would explore, or we’d go tubing and I would drive to this little town called New Hope that has a wonderful ice cream shop called Moo Hope. It was truly amazing to be present and experience that part of life for myself.”

Henry doesn’t just bond with the crew on his sets but actors too, often walking away with new friends who happen to be very famous, like, say, Julia Roberts — whom he’s currently filming a movie with in London. “She’s somebody I truly cherish,” he said.

“It’s never going to stop being weird to me,” Henry admits. “The part that is really hard for me — that I’m still fighting with — is when they tell me they’re fans of my stuff and I’m just like, ‘Shut up!’ I literally say it to their face.”

The biggest revelation about working alongside these accomplished actors is that Henry is now one of them.

“At the end of the day, now, these are my peers, these are my contemporaries, and I can’t continue to act like they’re not. I can’t continue to act like I have to shrink myself to fit in these spaces. I no longer have to do that. And what I also love is that they’ll reaffirm that for me, too … and that’s the great part.”

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Stephen Collopy

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