This Is Tyriq Withers’ Very First Interview

Every rising star eventually has to face the media. For Tyriq Withers, that moment is now. After breaking out in Atlanta’s “Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga” episode, the former college football player has been on a tear. Next up: a role in the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot, followed by a lead turn in Him, a Jordan Peele–produced thriller about a hotshot quarterback, an aging mentor, and the dark spiral that follows. So now, the people want answers: Where did he come from and how did he get here? His Him costar, the rapper Tierra Whack, came with the questions.

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FRIDAY 11:00 AM MAY 2, 2025 CALGARY

TIERRA WHACK: What’s up, big daddy? How are you?

TYRIQ WITHERS: I’m good! I’m out here in Canada. It’s a little cold, but I’m grateful to be working.

WHACK: Is that your first time out there?

WITHERS: Yeah.

WHACK: Fire. Any good food?

WITHERS: Not yet. I’m on a pretty strict diet.

WHACK: As always. I peep that. So, let me get started. Was there a moment that you realized, like, “Oh, this is actually happening?”

WITHERS: That’s a great question.

WHACK: Because I met you on a movie we were doing together, and then I talked to you again, and you’re doing another movie. Like, you’re out of here.

WITHERS: The moment when it actually happened is when I first booked my Atlanta episode with Donald Glover. When I was auditioning, I thought it was two scenes. When they sent me the entire script and told me I was leading the episode, and I finally met Donald, that’s when it was like,“Oh shit, something is in the air.”

WHACK: How do you deal with not having the script up until you’ve got the role?

WITHERS: At that stage in my life, I was just happy to be in the room. You’re like, “I just hope I get the two scenes.” I liked that process because if I’d have gotten the script before, I would have been obsessive over booking the role. Once the script got sent to me, I was like, “Are they sure they got the right person for this?”

WHACK: You start second-guessing, but you deserve it.

WITHERS: I appreciate that. It was a confidence-builder having Donald Glover be like, “Nah, you’re the person for this role.” He said something very simple and profound to me. I was like, “I hope you like what I do.” He was like, “Just do what you did in the audition.”

WHACK: Right, stick to that. When we were on set—and I don’t want to make this about me—but I got my one little movie role, so I’m hyped. I learned the script, I could read it backwards, but Justin Tipping, our director, was like, “Tierra, forget the script. Just be you.” And I was like, “No! I don’t want to be myself.” It took me a minute, but I loosened up a little bit.

 

WITHERS: Where I’m at in my career, what I’ve learned is—

WHACK: Yo, let me just say real quick. You’re so extra! The camera is moving as you move. You’re a real diva! [Laughs]

WITHERS: [Laughs] You said what?

WHACK: It’s just following you. You got that connect at Zoom! I gotta get that feature. But go ahead. I didn’t mean to cut you off.

WITHERS: [Laughs] I know Justin brought you into the fold because of who you are. And that’s how I approach a lot of things now, is bringing myself.

WHACK: Who else are you going to bring?

WITHERS: A lot of people are going up for a role and they say the lines, but nobody’s lived my experience.

WHACK: How much of your athletic background shaped the discipline that you bring to acting?

WITHERS:I played soccer growing up, and then I transitioned to football towards the end of high school. But I have a weird relationship with sports.

WHACK: How so?

WITHERS: I had to come to terms with “Who am I doing it for?” I didn’t enjoy it like I thought I did. I was just trying to make my mom proud.

WHACK: When did you realize that?

WITHERS: In college. I played one year of college football and we won the Orange Bowl. Not saying I played, but I was on the team. [Laughs] When you’re away from home, you build your own identity.That was the first time I was like,“What does Tyriq want?” So I decided to step away and chase what I thought was the human experience, which was getting involved with the Black Student Union and doing the first Black Student Union play at Florida State. Or getting involved with the Diversity Inclusion Institute, or serving as a mentor for the underdeveloped community around Florida State. Those things spoke to me more than sports.

WHACK: You had to follow your inner voice.

WITHERS: Absolutely.

WHACK: Okay. Would you rather go to the gym without deodorant or without water?

WITHERS: Come on, that’s easy. I’m going to get water when I get back to the crib, but I’d rather die in the gym with no water than somebody walk past me and be like, “Goddamn!” That’s one of my biggest fears—not having self-awareness about my own smell.

WHACK: That is true.

WITHERS: I know I smell good, but what if my smell is somebody else’s stink?

WHACK: You could ruin somebody’s day if you smell bad. It literally sticks with you.

WITHERS: I always got deodorant on me.

WHACK: What’s your go-to?

WITHERS: Secret.

WHACK: You’re the only person I know that uses Secret.

WITHERS: Oh no, Secret is him.

WHACK: I’m surprised by that. Okay, what’s the most unexpected skill you’ve picked up from acting?

WITHERS: That’s a great question. Hold on, let me cook.

WHACK: No, for sure.

WITHERS: You know the New York Times game?

WHACK: Wordle?

WITHERS: Yeah. I got really good at Wordle. We were in Australia for I Know What You Did Last Summer, and we’d compete. I never thought I’d be on set learning phone games, but it kept us sound.

WHACK: Speaking of I Know What You Did Last Summer, is there anything you can tell us about your character, Teddy?

WITHERS: Oh, Teddy.

WHACK: Let me just say, I’m geeked. I cannot wait to see that.

WITHERS: Something I can share about Teddy is he makes sense.

WHACK: He makes sense?

WITHERS: Do with that information what you will.

WHACK: Are you the only Black guy? They never listen to the Black guy. Yo, they never listen! And then the Black guy gets killed first. [Laughs]

WITHERS: I’m not saying anything more.

WHACK: Okay. Which role would you never play even for $10 million?

WITHERS: That’s a tough one. Because—

WHACK: You would do anything?

WITHERS: No, everything deserves a conversation. How can I bring myself into this story? If I don’t connect with the story, I don’t feel like I should be a part of it. So I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t do just off the muscle.

WHACK: Would you slap your grandma for $10 million?

WITHERS: Absolutely not.

WHACK: But what if she said,“Do it”?

WITHERS: Not Granny Dolores. No, ma’am.

WHACK: See, my grandma is crazy. She’d be like, “Listen baby, we’re going to split that down the middle. Give me your best shot.”

WITHERS: Not my granny! She’d be like, “We getting this money a different way.” So I’d be like, “Yes, ma’am.”

WHACK: You got a good grandma, I got a hood grandma. That’s cool. I thought you were going to answer differently. I always talk about how I don’t really like being interviewed because people ask basic questions.

WITHERS: This is my first one.

WHACK: That’s nuts. I got to do your first one?

WITHERS: Yeah.

WHACK: I’m all over the place.

WITHERS: I love it.

WHACK: They should have got a professional. What? Yo, this is crazy. What is your go-to meal, like your cheat meal? Like, you know it’s going to hit every time. Who’s making it? What restaurant?

WITHERS: There’s a spot in L.A. I’m obsessed with. You ever been to Prince Street Pizza?

WHACK: No, I drive by it all the time

WITHERS: It’s this thick pizza.

WHACK: You like them thick. [Laughs] Any toppings?

WITHERS: They have one with ricotta cheese on top and pepperoni. I’m simple.

 

WHACK: What’s your least favorite workout?

WITHERS: Any workout. I love the challenge, but going through it absolutely sucks. Anything legs, like squats, front squats, RDL (Russian deadlifts), Bulgarian split squats.

WHACK: You lost me at the first thing. I don’t know anything about that stuff.

WITHERS: I have to be told what to do. Adam, my trainer, he—

WHACK: You keep giving him shout-outs, he must be giving you a deal or something.

WITHERS: [Laughs] No, because he got me to a certain physique with this film that I’m like—

WHACK: Even the last film, you were double-cheeked up. I was like, “Bro, he walking around with them things, yo.”

WITHERS: Double-cheeked up on a Thursday. [Laughs]

WHACK: No, I’m kidding. They know don’t know we play this much. What was your last expensive purchase?

WITHERS: I just bought a new phone.

WHACK: Okay, what’s something you want to buy that you’re working to get? Like a car?

WITHERS: I’m a watch person.

WHACK: You’re not into cars, though? That’s kind of surprising.

WITHERS: I still drive my 2013 whip from high school.

WHACK: I love that.

WITHERS: There’s a lot of history to that car, because my brother drove it. I drove it to Atlanta. I lived with it in Atlanta. I did not drive from Atlanta to L.A., though. I put her on a truck, and then went cross-country. Her name’s Big Bertha.

WHACK: Shout out to Big B.

WITHERS: Big B!

WHACK: My girl! You mentioned your brother. I’m going through some personal stuff. My cousin’s birthday was yesterday, and I was just thinking, “Wow, he’s really not here anymore.” How do you balance that? He’s been gone for two years, and it still feels like it was yesterday.

WITHERS: First off, happy birthday to your little cousin.

WHACK: Yes. Happy birthday, Marky.

WITHERS: And I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do this, because I know grief is very—

WHACK: No, it’s nothing. I had a moment. You never want to forget your people. You want to keep moving, but you never get over it.

WITHERS: One way I cope with it is knowing you’ll never get over it. I always quote James Baldwin, who says the things we go through, like grief or trauma, we initially think it isolates us. But as we move forward in life, it builds a bridge. It’s like, “You lost somebody? I lost somebody. I’m not alone in this grief.” I miss the hell out of my brother, who passed four years ago, and that feeling will never go away. But another thing that brings me healing is always chasing him and trying to look for him in everything I do.

WHACK: I love that.

WITHERS: For instance, one of my brother’s last quotes on his story was “Tomorrow isn’t promised.” It was an eerie thing.

WHACK: Are you serious?

WITHERS: Yeah. My character has tattoos, so I got one that said “Tomorrow is never promised.”

WHACK: Jesus. He’s always with you.

WITHERS: It makes things 10,000 times better because, yeah, this is why I’m doing it—to make him proud.

WHACK: Okay. I needed that. I want to lighten it up a little bit again. What’s your go-to excuse to end a phone conversation?

WITHERS: I’m not on wifi, I’m on data, so I’m going to hit you back.

WHACK: That’s a boring one! Give me a better one.

WITHERS: My homeboy taught me that.

WHACK: Really? That would not work for my friends. I’m a little off, so I’ll just say, “Hey, I don’t feel like talking anymore.”

WITHERS: I expect that from you, and I’ll be like, “Yeah, I didn’t want to talk to you anyways.”

WHACK: Yeah, you take it personal, but it has nothing to do with you. The world is so ready to be offended, but it’s like, “I just literally don’t feel like talking anymore.” Like right now, I’m ready to be done with this interview. I love you, I’ll probably text you afterwards, but this is business, so it’s just awkward. I can’t believe that this is your first interview and you chose me. Who am I?

WITHERS: Nah, I already knew you would go crazy.

WHACK: I was so nervous. Like, what do you want me to ask you? I had fun though, but this is still awkward. Like, what am I doing interviewing my friend?

WITHERS: I know.

WHACK: I wanted to ask you a lot of wild shit, but I played it really cool.

WITHERS: Go for it.

WHACK: No, it’s done! We’re good. Tyriq, I can’t wait to see you, bro. I hope I get invited to the premiere and everything.

WITHERS: You definitely will. My people will call your people. [Laughs]

WHACK: It’s cool, I get it. [Laughs]

WITHERS: I’m playing. We’ll figure it out.

WHACK: You’re doing your thing now, so, I’ll have my people talk to your people.

WITHERS: I appreciate you.

WHACK: Y’all have a great day.

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Grooming: Camille Ariane using Dior Beauty at Exclusive Artists.

Photography Assistant: Khalilah Pianta.

Fashion Assistant: Lisette Gallo.

Post-production: Camerin Stoldt.

Location: Malibu Canyon Ranch.