Pop-Culturalist.com

Bryan Terrell Clark is a multifaceted storyteller whose talent spans the stage, screen, and recording studio, showcasing his versatility and skill across various artistic mediums. His credits include acclaimed projects such as Hamilton, Motown: The Musical, When They See Us, and Queen Sugar, among others.

Currently, he stars in the must-see series, Diarra from Detroit. The BET+ original follows Diarra Brickland, an overworked teacher drawn into a cold case after a dating app matches her with a man she suspects is the adult version of a boy abducted in the ’90s. Bryan shines as Mr. Tea, one of Diarra’s closest friends, bringing depth, charisma, and hilarious one-liners to the ensemble cast. Bryan’s portrayal of Mr. Tea reflects his personal journey as a queer Black man, aiming to offer a nuanced depiction he wished to see growing up. Through his performance, Bryan challenges stereotypes and advocates for greater representation in the entertainment industry.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Bryan about Diarra from Detroit, how he helped shape his character, how he leveraged his improv background in the series, and more.

PC: You’ve got a new series out now. Diarra Kilpatrick actually told you that she was writing this character with your voice in mind. How did that conversation ultimately lead you to being cast as Mr. Tea?
Bryan: It’s crazy. I’ve been saying this over and over again, but I feel like I’m living inside of an answered prayer or some crazy manifestation. I still did the work, let’s be honest. Even if a person is creating something for you, you still have to jump through the hoops of auditioning.

That was the most nerve-wracking part—auditioning, waiting to test for the role, and still having to wait. That’s the hardest part. It’s the waiting for the yes because there’s some level of surrender that has to happen. You have to know that you did your best. But I auditioned and worked like every other actor and booked it.

Being on set and working with my friend every single day, it didn’t even feel like work. The work was everything leading up to it.

PC: Perfect segue to this next question. There’s something so special about a group of collaborators who are also friends coming together to create. How did that trust and friendship that you and Diarra have allow you to take agency over your character’s arc over the first season?
Bryan: There was a lot of trust, and thank God we were friends because for me, as an openly queer Black man, it was really, really important that the character feels authentic and nuanced. I felt like she trusted me with that, as did Miles Orion Feldsott, who was an amazing executive producer and worked tirelessly to ensure the show’s success. They both trusted me.

I can’t recall the specific scenes, but there were moments when I questioned if the character would do or say certain things. Very quickly, we were able to regroup and refocus on this character. Mr. Tea is a very specific kind of gay man. [laughs] I’m really proud of the work we’ve done in ensuring he occupies a distinct space in the tapestry of gay male representation in the media.

He doesn’t fall into a lot of those stereotypes. That trust was super important as we developed this character. We felt like we were telling the truth of who he was. Thank God I had a friend to go and say, “What about this? What about that?”

She’s also a great listener. Don’t have friends who are writers if you don’t want some of the things that you say to end up in a script. [laughs] I don’t want to spoil too much, but in the first episode, there’s a line that I said to her at a dinner party years ago. She was like, “Let me put that in my backpack,” and it ended up in the script. So there’s a lot of authenticity and nuance, but Mr. Tea is a version of who I used to be. There are times when I’m watching his actions and his movement in the story, and I’m like, “Old Bryan would have done that.” But I’ve grown in some ways and in some areas.

PC: You need a writing credit for the show. I mean this in the best possible way, but this is the most unhinged, dark comedy that I’ve ever seen, and I couldn’t stop laughing. This genre in particular really encourages improvisation. Having gotten your start doing improv and having an illustrious career on the stage where anything can happen, how have those experiences prepared you for this moment? How much of what we see on the screen is scripted versus improvised?
Bryan: It’s a little bit of both. Kudos to you for being a great journalist and doing your research. I did start out my acting career in improv. There’s something about the combination of playing something that’s so close to the skin with someone that knows you in real life that allows those skills to come back. Over the years and through the journey of my career, it’s actually been a really long time since I’ve been required to use improv and those skills, because as you said, Diarra from Detroit is unhinged. She’s unhinged, but they really allow for us to play and find authenticity and improv in a lot of the moments in the show.

They also knew how to pull us back. Sometimes improv was a way to open the scene up, even if it didn’t end up in the final cut. There are scenes that we improvised our butts off, but when you look at it, it’s like actually going back to the real lines, so kudos to the great writing.

Then there are these spaces where we do riffs like in Episode 1. There are some improv lines that made the screen and really make that scene pop to me. So it’s a combination of both. You’ve got to trust the writing. Don’t go completely off the rails, but then sometimes you need to loosen it up a bit and bring in those improv skills.

PC: I think the writing is so great where you do have these hilarious one-liners, but it also feels so grounded in reality. One of the most beautiful things about art is that it reflects the complexity of humanity and how we’re not all just one thing. It’s an opportunity to show different sides and shades to each of us. You said in the past that you rarely saw yourself reflected in the media that you consumed. What does this moment mean to you to know there’s somebody watching this character who will resonate with him? What would you tell your younger self who never saw themselves on TV?
Bryan: I could cry thinking about that. Honestly, it means everything. We’ve thrown out this word “representation” and all of these adjacent words, but people don’t realize how powerful it is and how life-changing it is when you can see yourself. Everybody on this planet is this spirit living in these bodies, walking around, trying to figure out life. It can be a lonely journey, but there’s something powerful when you look up for a moment and you go, “Oh my God. They’re like me.”

If I could talk to my younger self, I would say, “Keep going. Your tribe will find you. You will find your tribe. You might not see yourself fully in one community and you might live in some intersections, but in those intersections, there are people that will see you, understand you, and love you. There are older people who have gone before you that will guide you.” That’s where the Billy Porters and the Colman Domingos, who’ve been working tirelessly in their art, in their craft, and in theater, have finally gotten into the Hollywood space, but they’ve been friends and mentors for years in my life.

I’m really thankful for their light and their journeys because a lot of their personal journey, just me witnessing it, was hope for me, and I hope to be that for somebody else. That’s what I would tell my younger self.

PC: You’re doing that for so many people now. You’re such a trailblazer. Music is such an important part of your artistry. How much of a role does it play in the ways that you prepare for a character? If you had to describe Mr. Tea’s arc in a song, what would it be and why?
Bryan: That’s a good one. A song? I don’t know if I have one. I might be leaking this, but there may or may not be a musical moment later on in the season. I’ll let that musical moment speak for itself. That’s how I would describe Mr. Tea. It’s the song that you might hear that’s underscoring the episode. That describes Mr. Tea to a T.

Preparing for this role required the most transparency that I’ve ever experienced in my career. I haven’t played a lot of queer men, which is really interesting. I actually have straight friends who have played gay on screen more than I have, who’ve played gay on stage more than I have. So this required a lot of revealing. A lot of the characters that I’ve played like George Washington or Marvin Gaye, they require a lot of research. I dove in deep into facts of their life, the experiences of their lives, and what other people in their lives have said about them, whether that’s through footage or audio that may have been available. I nerd out over who these people were.

When it comes to Mr. Tea, it was like, can you dare yourself to be seen? Can you dare yourself to be naked in front of the screen? Can you reveal those parts of yourself that you deem personal and private? When I look at Mr. Tea, one of the things that I’m so proud about is that when I look at the role, I don’t necessarily see myself masked or transformed. I look at the role and when I look at myself on the screen, I go, “Oh my God. There is so much me in that.” I poured myself into this role and I’ve taken off a lot to reveal who I am in this role. It’s deeply personal.

PC: Has it ever been daunting for you as a storyteller/artist to be that vulnerable in your craft? What did you learn about yourself through this experience?
Bryan: I learned that I was funnier than I thought, which is fun. [laughs] I’ve learned that my friends see me as a truth teller, which is great because that’s kind of who Mr. Tea is. He’s going to tell the truth in love. I don’t always do that in my life. I’m always a truth teller, but I’ve learned and I’m learning more and more every day that you can tell the truth in love. So that’s been a journey. It’s all been worth it. I’m still learning and I’m still growing. I’m not sure that fully answers the question. It took me down this rabbit hole of what it means to be an unfinished work, and to have these roles that come to you where that’s okay. That’s what Mr. Tea feels like to me. I don’t think you’ve seen the most that you’re going to see of him, but he’s assisting Diarra in this journey to find this guy. You get these little pockets and glimpses into where he is personally, and you’ll get more of that as the season develops. Hopefully, we get a Season 2 because I’d love to explode into those things.

PC: In Episode 2, there’s a little bit of a love interest for Mr. Tea. What can you tease about that dynamic and how it’ll evolve over Season 1?
Bryan: I will say that this love interest was super important to me because all of the leads in the show end up with some form of a love interest. Mr. Tea is not in the space where he’s ready to settle down at all. He believes in sexual freedom and he’s on this journey to live his life. But when you get tied up with the wrong person or the right person at the wrong time, sometimes they stick around. So what I will say, what you see from this deejay and whatever those sparks are that flew in Episode 2, buckle up, because they are tied to the plot of the rest of the season. So you’ll definitely see more of Mr. Tea and this deejay for sure.

To keep up with Bryan, follow him on Instagram. Watch Diarra from Detroit on BET+.