In 2008, when Brian Terrell Clark was auditioning for his first television role on CSI: New York, he entered the casting room wearing baggy pants, grimaced every time he spoke, and when he left slammed the door.
Although the episode's director was impressed with his performance on set, Clark was convinced he could only be cast as a thug or a drug dealer, and intended to sideline those roles. . He has set it as his goal to only pursue opportunities that allow him to showcase his various talents and embrace being a gay black man.
Ms. Clark, who trained at the Yale School of Drama, said, “I was always introducing myself or turning into that character, but I didn't understand.'' “We still had to be black, and later in my life, casting directors started wanting us to be more flashy. There's nothing in the way we express ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it becomes a problem when it’s limited to stereotypes.”
Sixteen years after that life-changing audition, Clark is now playing a character written for him on television. He co-starred in the dark comedy “Diarra From Detroit,'' about a schoolteacher (Diarra Kilpatrick) who is going through a divorce and tries to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a man she met on a dating app. There is. The series premiered on BET earlier this month. Kilpatrick is also the creator of the series.
Clark will play Mr. Tee, a former All-American basketball player and singer who teaches at the same school as Kilpatrick's character. He is her loyal and serious gay best friend who regularly gives her relationship advice.
Kilpatrick and Esther Lou Weathers, co-executive producers of “Dear From Detroit,” met comedian Yvonne Orji during the taping of her second HBO series, “A Whole Me,” in the fall of 2022. Clark was approached about auditioning for the role. The script for the pilot episode was based on actual conversations between Clark, Kilpatrick, and the writers.
“Mr. Tea is just who I am, and so many other queer people I know,” Clark said. “I'm so grateful that Diarra wrote and created a perfect, well-rounded queer black man for the screen. It was a dream come true and a prayer answered.”
When Clark appeared on Broadway, he realized that his presence on stage was important. In 2013, Clark made his Broadway debut as late singer Marvin Gaye in Motown: The Musical, and returned six years later to play George Washington in Hamilton.
He joined the ensemble cast of Thoughts of a Colored Man, written by playwright Keenan Scott II and starring Black men of various ages in a Brooklyn neighborhood, in the role of Happiness.
“Thoughts of a Colored Man,” the first Broadway production written, directed and starring an all-Black lineup, opened in October 2021 and closed in December after 79 performances. This was the first play to return to Broadway after live theater was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clark had wanted to take some time off from Broadway, but says Thoughts of a Colored Man was “one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done.”
“I have found a language for my purpose as an artist, which is to move the culture forward one step at a time,” Clark said. “We had the opportunity to not only actually tell the story of our culture, but to be directed and costumed by people who were raised in the same spirit.”
Clark has worked with director Ava DuVernay on “Cherish the Day,'' “Queen Sugar,'' and “When They See Us,'' and is a veteran of BET's “The New Edition Story.'' He has appeared as a guest on numerous television programs including. Producer Terry Lewis.
Embracing Clark's own trauma and family issues helped the character grow. He was born and raised in Baltimore to his mother, an educator turned pastor, and his father, a blue-collar worker. His father was a drug dealer turned addict who went to rehab 22 times over 20 years.
Clark, who grew up in the church, said her family's religious beliefs made it difficult for her to come out. When the versatile entertainer married her husband, costume designer Debarrio Simmons, on New Year's Day 2022, her old wounds healed.
At the wedding, their mothers prayed for them.
Clark, 43, said: “It was such an internal humiliation to find out who I really was from my home life.'' “But all the things I thought were traumas and challenges in life became my superpowers. In a weird way, my parents taught me how to fly and embrace who I am. .”
Whenever Clark wasn't acting, he was silently working on music. He has performed with Maxwell, Brandy, Ne-Yo, Anita Baker, and Michael Bublé.
In 2011, he was credited as a co-writer on Mary J. Blige's “Irreversible” after producer Harmony Samuels threw him into a recording session. Actor Jussie Smollett heard Clark's demo of “Freedom” when he appeared on an episode of Empire in 2016. The song became Smollett's debut single.
Clark plans to release new music later this year. Earlier this month, the multi-talented artist co-headlined the upcoming show. carnegie hallperforms Motown songs with Varisia Lekay and the New York Pops Orchestra.
When Clark stood on stage at Carnegie Hall, he felt a dream come true by being his complete self.
“It's your honesty that people respond to, and unless you have that internal freedom, your work is limited, especially as an actor,” Clark said. “I finally feel free in my life and completely in my zone.”
'Dear' From Detroit' airs new episodes every Thursday on BET+.
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