Tyriq Withers: remember the name. As the star of the new Jordan Peele–produced NFL-mindfuck blockbuster Him, Withers’ mesmerising performance will live long in the psyche. Directed by Justin Tipping (who joins him in conversation for this cover story), Him sees Withers lace up as Cameron Cade, a rising college football phenom whose obsession with becoming the GOAT draws him into a surreal, sinister bond with his idol (a manic, menacing Marlon Wayans). Peering into the shadowed side of sport, fame, and ambition, it’s a stage on which Withers excels – you can feel the tension; the unravelling – and one that leans on his own background as a former Florida State Seminoles football star.

This is a defining moment in Withers’ filmography, propelling him straight to the top. Teen college drama (Tell Me Lies)? Check. 90s horror reboot (I Know What You Did Last Summer)? Locked in. Horror-thriller that makes you reassess everything (Him)? Hell yes. Emotional romantic drama circa spring 2026? (Reminders of Him) 100%. A solid, supported, ambitious, rich career; born of talent and grit. Get ready – this is the era of Tyriq Withers.

Tyriq Withers: So… come here often?

Justin Tipping: [laughs] Look at us, who’d have thought? I was woken up by a FaceTime [from Tyriq]. There’s a generational gap there. I’m like, “Who FaceTimes at 8am?”
TW: I am a FaceTime and DND [do not disturb] warrior, I’m always on DND. But if I need you, I FaceTime because I need the whole experience. I need to see you as you are, straight out of bed. It’s very vulnerable. [both laugh]

JT: Yeah, I don’t answer FaceTime for just anybody, but I will for you. OK, Tyriq motherfucking Withers.
TW: That’s my nameee.

JT: The new face of masculinity. Out with the toxic, in with the vulnerable as the new status quo of being brave.
TW: That’s a bar.

JT: That’s you. The new wave. The soulful supermodel. [both laugh] So what’re you up to these days? How are you spending your time between the chaos? You’ve got like, three studio movies coming out back-to-back-to-back, which I don’t think has ever been done before [Tyriq laughs]. How do you protect your peace during such chaotic times?
TW: Right now, I’m in that process of discovery – it’s all a journey. It kind of hit me this summer that structure is something I need, and I yearn for connectivity with friends and family. I felt like the past two years have been like work, work, work, where I’ve had to lock in to a certain level, where my focus is all on the character, the story. So I took it upon myself to do things I want to do myself, outside of work. Like, the other weekend I got some friends together and we went ocean deep-water fishing.

JT: Wow.
TW: I used to go fishing with my grandpa, so that was a real wholesome, healing moment where I tied my childhood into my adulthood. I’m really trying to feed younger me with things that I genuinely want to do. I believe that’s why we create art, to speak to our younger selves, to heal our younger selves.

JT: Where did you go fishing with your grandfather?
TW: We used to go to North Carolina. I grew up pond fishing, lake fishing, but we used to do these trips to North Carolina, Maggie Valley, like, Cherokee area, and we’d wake up at five in the morning, go get these blueberry syrup pancakes, and then be out on a stream near Grandfather Mountain. I was like, ten years old. It was me, my grandpa and my brother.

JT: A core memory.
TW: Yeah, a very core memory. I think fishing is a microcosm for life, where not everything is right away, you need patience, and the thrill of catching a fish, the thrill of having one on and losing it, but you keep going. That was a big thing for me [during this period of work], and also the structure of going to the gym multiple times a week, because I believe that when you put your body through physical pain, your mental balances. Your body needs equilibrium, so when I don’t work out, my mind tends to venture off and find the pain. But when I put my body through that physical pain, my mind isn’t looking for it. Oh my god, psychology! [both laugh]

JT: It’s amazing to be aware of it, and then act on it. I usually don’t act on it, or it takes a lot for me to do so. Fishing forces you to slow down and be present.
TW: Exactly, to be present, and to plan. Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance. I didn’t get to celebrate my birthday properly because it was like, a work event [Tyriq celebrated his 27th birthday during press and premieres for I Know What You Did Last Summer]. And yes, that was a dream come true, but also I believe that birthdays are kind of sacred for being around the people you [love].

JT: That’s really beautiful.
TW: There were six of us, we caught around fifteen fish and ate them that night.

JT: Did you cook? Who prepped the fish?
TW: I did not, the captain of the boat gutted the fish, and while he was doing that, we jumped in the water. I’ve just realised that we were swimming in the ocean while he was chumming the water with the fish guts. I’ve just thought about that… right now. [both laugh]

JT: So, for Him. You get cast, you get the part – tell me about that.
TW: Yeah, I was in the middle of Montenegro and y’all were like, “Let’s have a meeting.” Carmen Cuba [casting director] reached out and we had a beautiful conversation about identity, loss, grief, love. While I was on that call with her, Monkeypaw [Productions, Jordan Peele’s production company] reached out saying you would like to meet with me. Then I read the script, fell in love with it, broke it down with one of my cast mates – I was filming Family Secrets at the time – and we just kept talking about themes, themes,
themes. Then I got on a call with you and the Monkeypaw producers, and that was lovely. We aligned visions, and it just felt right. In hindsight [it did], in the moment I was like, “Did they hate me?”

JT: Did you think that you weren’t going to get it?
TW: I still to this day think I don’t have it. [laughs] Until I walk into a theatre and I’m like, “Woah!” Because when you’re an actor, it’s normal, you’re like, “Oh, they want to meet me. It’s not a done deal. I don’t know how close I am.” You just kind of know your place. This is a studio movie, and not just a studio movie, but a Monkeypaw movie. So I didn’t know the vision y’all had. You just go in and be yourself. It wasn’t until you asked me for workout footage and for me to throw a football, then I was like, “Man, I should’ve been working out more.” I had a bird chest – I still have a bird chest – like, [squeezes his chest together] it caved in a little. [laughs]

JT: Bird chests need love too, shout out all my bird chests. [both laugh]
TW: And do you know how hard it is to find a football in Montenegro? You wanted footage of me throwing and it took a week to find a football, also wasn’t even blown all the way up, it was slightly deflated. So the director of Family Secrets shot a montage of me throwing the football. I’m looking back at my form at the time like, I don’t know why y’all picked me because that throw was horrendous. It had potential, which is the key with you. You understand potential.

JT: It was also amazing because we were expecting someone to be there with a camera filming you throwing a football, and we get submitted this: the camera pushes in, wraps around, 360, and dollies left. Then I was like, “Oh, that makes sense, he had the director go out and film it.”
TW: Malik Vitthal, he wanted to. He was like, “Let me film it.” I had one of the junior execs at the production company as my wide receiver – he was running big routes.

JT: When I saw it I was like, “This is fucking nuts.”
TW: I edited it together – I need to put that on the record. [laughs] I love editing so much. I sent that off…

JT: And you were like, “OK, maybe I do have a shot.”
TW: No, no, no, it wasn’t until y’all was like, “They want to have a director’s session.” And I’ve never been in a director’s session where it was like y’all were rooting for me. It was a two hour session after a week long of filming, so everyone else [on Family Secrets] was going out enjoying themselves and I was like, “I need to lock in for this director’s session.” I didn’t care, I just wanted to commit. You were so collaborative, you and Carmen Cuba on the call, and it was the most precious moment of the casting process because, the first couple of takes, obviously I’m auditioning, right? Then it clicked in my head when Carmen was like, “I like the top of this, maybe we can try this and this,” and then you were like, “Yeah, I like this, but I hate that line, let’s take that out.” And I was like, “Wait, this is me on set. He’s rooting for me, he’s trying to champion me with the best material possible.”

“Right now, I’m in that process of discovery – it’s all a journey.”

JT: I was definitely in the camp of… Because you weren’t a household name, and all of those things were working against you, I knew my audience and what would hopefully push you over the line. I was trying to like…
TW: Make it undeniable.

JT: Yeah. It’s cool that you felt that.
TW: Then a couple of days went by and they were like, “We want to hop on a call again and do some more.” And I was like, “I’m game, let’s do it.” Then on the call it’s not just you and Carmen, it’s you, Carmen, Jamal [M. Watson, producer], Kate [Oh, executive producer], then y’all were like, “Do you know Jordan Peele?” “Hey, this is Jordan Peele,” he introduces himself and goes into talking about the audition and whatnot. Then you were like, “I just want to do some quick improv,” – and it was probably my worst improv moment because I was like, “Oh sure, sure.” We were going back and forth…

JT: I was improving? I don’t even remember.
TW: Yeah, you were improving with me, you were talking like, “You’re not going to make it in the league.” Then you told me I got the part, and I was like, “Oh, wh-what?” I froze. I remember I got so excited, the camera was like this [in front of him] and I knocked it over, then picked it up like, “My bad,” screaming and shit. That’s how that went.

JT: We all knew that you’d got the part a week before we had to do that follow-up session.
TW: Then when my team told me they said not to tell anybody. So I was on set with the biggest secret. When I knew you were up to something crazier than I could imagine was when you sent me the sizzle reel you used to pitch for the movie. I was like, “Ohh… Got it, got it. You’re on some never-before-seen type of wave.” [both laugh]

JT: What was the change like towards “Now I’m going to a studio project and I’m number one, I’m the leading man in the movie…” Was it a hard adjustment? What was the transition of being like, “I’m in every scene. I have to be front and centre every day?”
TW: It wouldn’t do it any justice if I said it wasn’t a crazy shift. It makes me think of this conversation [I had] with my acting coach. He was like, “A lot of people say they want this, but when you have to show up every day with a level of performance that’s consistent with the day before and the day after for 40, 70 shoot days, whatever it is, that’s when you have to ask yourself: are you willing to do this?” I was filming a movie at the time, but then I started doing my prep work for Him, and had to get in physical shape. I had my moment in the gym where I was like, “I hadn’t realised how out of shape I am.” [laughs] And the amount of… Six days a week, twice a day, cardio, I have to eat this, I can’t eat that, I didn’t drink throughout the whole shoot. So that was a wake-up call, where on top of that I have to study the material, watch films to pull from, work with friends, coaches.

JT: You felt the pressure? All eyes are on you.
TW: Yeah, all eyes are on me. But the amount of care that you all took to make sure I had everything I needed for training… You gave me Jordan Palmer to offer QB [quarterback] training, and I’m over here with first-round draft picks. Josh Allen [Buffalo Bills quarterback] came to some of the practices. Being surrounded by that, I was like, “This is the part of the process that I’ve dreamt of. Being able to have these different connections and pour it into a character, into a story.”

JT: Is Josh Allen in any of your performance?
TW: He’s one of the greatest in the sport right now. I think his level of physicality and movement I can definitely relate to. I stole some things from Joe Milton, cadences and the way he throws. That whole prep process was a wake-up call, filming on top of working out, and that first day, being in every scene. I loved it so much, because the love for the game is like, “If I didn’t like this scene, I get to show up next scene and do something a little different.” Another wake-up call for me was having to go the gym before and after a work day – it didn’t stop. To be telling a story but also maintaining a physical presence was a challenge, but I think my athletic background – practice makes perfect – really helped me throughout that process.

“I’m really trying to feed younger me with things that I genuinely want to do. I believe that’s why we create art, to speak to our younger selves, to heal our younger selves.”

JT: Let’s talk about the sports-to-film pipeline. After playing only one year of high school football, you’re suddenly playing for Florida State, one of the best college football programmes in the world. So clear evidence – objectively, scientifically – that you’re a bit of a freak athlete. Also, you’re out here giving like, a 4.5 GPA [grade point average].
TW: [laughs] Yeah.

JT: It sounds like there is some transference. Did you use all those skill sets in the movie?
TW: Absolutely. I’d say it’s a direct copy and paste… I graduated number seven in my class in high school – flex [laughs] – and my mom made it very clear, “It’s either sports or academics,” and I was like, “Why not both?”

JT: You see, there’s no binary thinking with this man. Both things can be true.
TW: [laughs] Both things can be true. I had this conversation the other day, football is a lot like acting, you train hours and hours and hours and hours and years and years to perfect an average [football] play, which is like, four or five seconds, right? When you do a scene on a set, we rarely had scenes go above 30 seconds. You’re training all these hours to perfect between “action” and “cut”, and that’s like one percent of all the things that come before. Being seventeen, turning eighteen, going into playing for Florida State, in which we won the Orange Bowl, I’m playing with Derwin James, DeMarcus Walker, Brian Burns, you know, Derwin James is one of the highest-paid safeties right now. Off the heels of Jalen Ramsey, who’s one of the highest-paid DBs [defensive back] in the league. Dalvin Cook, Jimbo Fisher our coach. That initial shock and anxiety of showing up every day and trying to perfect something, it taught me to be a sponge, to be water, my friend. [laughs] I took that discipline, work ethic, and yearning to prove myself to a multitude of people. Number one, my mom, my brother. But also on set, I want to prove something to you. Every time I do a scene I look to you, “Is that what you’re looking for?” Because this is your vision, your world, and if you like it, I love it.

JT: That motivation that comes with being an underdog, to prove them wrong, or prove them right. So now you get to this level, we’re here, and people are like, “You are.” Is that scary? Do you have to find new sources of motivation? Because you went from the experience on Him, to the next one, Reminders of Him – basically the same universe [laughs]. Was there almost more pressure going into that because you’re coming off this high of, “I’m him.” Literally, figuratively, metaphorically. You proved to all the haters, doubters, you silenced them. But then it’s like, boom, you’re already getting more offers, having all these meetings.
TW: I’d never be like, “I’m him.” [both laugh] That’s crazy vernacular. I just do my thing, connect with the material, and then let other people dictate what they want to think. I used to do a lot of things out of spite, but when you do that you’re left feeling empty and like, “Why am I doing this?” One of my first realisations was, when I was first going to play football, I was doing it out of spite towards my soccer coach who cut me [from the team] for political reasons – politics at the soccer club. I was like, “Watch this – watch this.” Then I’m on the football team and I’m like, “I don’t even like this, I don’t even want to be here.” Instead, I’m yearning for self-discovery. Then I get involved with on-campus and end up doing the first Black student union play at Florida State. Fast forward and I’m still trying to work through that journey. When we met, I think I was still on that, “I’m gonna prove something, I’m gonna prove, prove, prove.” Then you realise, that’s not what it’s about. If you’re going to prove it to somebody, prove it to yourself. We had many beautiful conversations, and I think you changed my perspective when… You showed me a song, Only The Poets [by Marc E. Bassy] with James Baldwin [a sample], and he says, “The poets… are the only people that know the truth about us. Soldiers don’t, statesmen don’t, priests don’t, union leaders don’t.” What he’s saying is that only the poets can empathise and sympathise with our story.

You talked about how James Baldwin said that we suffer as artists so that other people can connect with it and suffer less. That changed my whole mindset of, “Oh, this is exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing.” When you watch Cameron Cade in Him, I want athletes – and anybody who is yearning for success and greatness – to be able to connect with that and feel seen. To understand that it’s OK to live in vulnerability and find light in the darkness. Going into Reminders of Him, it’s a story about grief, motherhood, love, love lost, and redemption. I think that’s my fuelling motivation now: how can I do this for the people connected to the movie. I know why you’re doing it, who you’ve lost, personally, and so I use that as my motivation. I need to show up every day for Justin. I need to show up every day for Kira Kelly, our cinematographer, for Jordan Ferrer, our set designer. There was such an underdog mentality, I was like, “Everyone has something to prove.” I stopped with the spite, and started with the connectivity and healing in the art. So shout out to you for being a monumental part of that process.

JT: Well, I have my own journey, my own process. Similar character arcs in that they both seem to be inspired by grief in some way, and that’s a beautiful thing. In today’s culture, we forget how to grieve sometimes.
TW: [To grieve] means that we’re living, it means there is, there was, and there will always be love.

JT: It’s a stark reminder.
TW: The actor Jeremy Pope said that he was with his therapist and he was like, “I feel like my highs are high, my lows are low.” And his therapist said, “It’s like a heartbeat monitor, it means you’re alive, because if it was straight, that means you’re dead.” I was like, [takes a deep breath out and leans back] bars!

JT: End scene. Speaking of other actors, do you admire any other performances or those who came before you, where you’re like, that’s the one, or that’s a good indicator of the stories you want to be a part of?
TW: Yeah, I could talk through movies too. I’m thinking about a scene that touched me, the opening scene of Midsommar, where Florence Pugh is just wailing. There’s a specific cry that she tapped into, which I resonated with, and I’ve only felt when I was at my brother’s funeral. It’s beyond crying, it’s a spiritual awakening, a release. That really touched me. Florence Pugh is a very profound actor, where the conveying of emotion is very subtle, but very dominant at the same time. That was a film that I really studied for
the making of Him. I’m gonna throw one at you, I don’t know if you’ve seen this movie. I love the performance of Eric Bana in Chopper. Have you seen Chopper?

JT: No, this is the first time I think this has happened, live, direct, exclusive.
TW: Oh, this is the first movie you haven’t seen. [laughs] You’re going to go study it after this. His performance is so intentional and very careful. He only has one or two blow-up moments, and we spoke about this, taking a little less from a blow-up moment to serve another blow-up moment. When you watch Eric Bana, there’s a level of swag to it – he plays an Australian gangster. He only allows the audience to see his true emotions once, maybe twice.

JT: The restraint.
TW: Right, and the control. As an actor, I’m thinking, “How can I serve the story in the best way possible?” Then also Miles Teller in Whiplash, that’s quite a big parallel. I’m gonna throw this out there, I love Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games. The original Hunger Games is one of the best movies of all time, sue me.

“Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance.”

JT: Shout out J-Law.
TW: Exactly. I think the journey of her character is kind of similar to Cameron’s. Obviously they’re two different worlds and stories, but if you look at her at the beginning, and you look at her at the end, it’s like two different people. I’ll give you one more, from the 70s, Taxi Driver.

JT: Yes! [both laugh]
TW: That whole performance. We have a mirror moment in our movie.

JT: I told you that I was referencing post-Vietnam War films.
TW: Yeah, Full Metal Jacket.

JT: Full Metal Jacket.
TW: And did you tell me to watch Apocalypse Now?

JT: Probably. Essentially, the same way American football is designed to model, and is inspired by, war: soldiers and taking land. Players, to some level, it goes beyond a game; in a way, you’re making the perfect soldier. I was definitely looking at the descent to madness and those performances.
TW: At the time I was like, “Why is he telling me to watch this?” But it all makes sense during, and after.

JT: I like the shout out to J-Law in relation to you, because I remember seeing Winter’s Bone for the first time. At that time she wasn’t as known, and I felt like that performance was so grounded, honest and real. There’s not a lot of dialogue in that movie, she’s moving places and taking things in, but most of it is being told on face and reaction. I feel like you have a similar gift where, even in Him, it’s not necessarily like you’re spitting monologues in the same way Marlon [Wayans] is. You’re taking in spaces and moving through spaces. The whole conceit of the story relies on your observations and reactions to the situations. It’s something deeper that you can’t teach, the camera can just follow you around and the audience is like, “Yes, and…” There’s something being communicated without effort. It’s the same way as in a horror, on a directing level, you want someone to laugh or feel like, “Ooh, this is going to be a sex scene” – then nope, now the alien pops up in the shower. It’s those hard turns. Pull back, pull back, pull back, in order for this one moment to have a bigger impact. Hey, you wanna make another movie together?
TW: [laughs] Absolutely. Let’s get cooking. I call you damn near once a week, “What’re we doing? What’re we doing?” I definitely want to make the Tipping-Withers, Withers Tipping connection. I appreciate those words because it’s nice hearing it from someone I respect as a storyteller, but also as a human. Shout out J-Law, shout out Florence Pugh.

JT: Shout out immense wailing and grounded grief.
TW: That’s a bar. [claps]

Interview originally published in HERO 34.