In Him, an unhinged thriller set in the high-stakes world of American football, Tyriq Withers plays a rising star quarterback with a golden arm. “Me throwing a football in the beginning [of training], it looks nothing like what you see in the film,” says the statuesque actor, who stands at 6ft 5in – an inch taller than Tom Brady, the quarterback widely regarded as the GOAT (greatest of all time).
But beyond the physical challenge – gruelling two-hour gym sessions, five chicken meals a day – playing budding NFL star Cameron Cade was “a cathartic experience” for Withers. A natural athlete, he grew up playing “varsity-level” soccer at high school, then made Florida State University’s American football squad. Withers was a wide receiver, which meant having to catch forward passes from quarterbacks like Cade.
But while he was still in the squad, Withers auditioned for a play being staged by Florida State’s Black Student Union. He landed the lead role, loved it, and made an instant pivot from sports to performing.
“I’d say this movie is about grief, but grief isn’t just about losing a person, it can be about losing your former self,” says the 27-year-old actor. “There’s a big part of my life where I’ve been grieving sports because for a lot of my childhood, that was how I placed value on myself: Did I make the team? Am I scoring goals?”
Withers made this seismic life switch because he felt “a part of my soul yearning for a more human experience” than football could provide. And when we meet at a stylish London hotel where he’s promoting Him, his first film as a lead actor, he’s more of an open book than the typical steely-eyed sportsman.
“I do miss Florida,” says Withers, who’s now based in LA, “but it’s harder to go back because I lost my older brother and there’s memories there.” Withers’ elder brother Kionte died in a car crash in 2021. “I can’t watch certain cartoons [from childhood] because they invoke such a good but hurting feeling.”
Today, he looks every inch the slick future superstar in a natty Burberry suit. But he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Later in the interview, he treats NME to a few bars from Miley Cyrus‘ charmingly cheesy power ballad ‘The Climb’. Alongside bangers by Drake, Lil Baby, Goo Goo Dolls and Florida rapper Rod Wave, this ode to overcoming adversity (“There’s always gonna be another mountain”) was a staple of his self-made Cameron Cade playlist.
Withers’ enthusiasm is infectious as he shares a pinch-me moment – getting to meet Tyler, The Creator backstage after a gig – and waxes lyrical about Julia Fox, the modern-day ‘It girl’ who shows off her acting chops in Him. “I want to be Julia Fox when I grow up,” he says.
Fox has fun in Him, which is directed by TV veteran Justin Tipping (The Chi, Dear White People) and produced by horror visionary Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us), as a vaguely Gaga-esque influencer called Elsie White. But this ambitious, sometimes baffling and very bloody film hinges on the relationship between Cameron Cade and his mentor, Elsie’s husband Isaiah, legendary quarterback for fictional NFL team the San Antonio Saviors.
“So many people connected to Atlanta which put me further on this journey”
In a flashback scene, we see young Cameron (Austin Pulliam) watching Isaiah on TV as he suffers a potentially career-ending injury while scoring a winning touchdown. Impressed, the boy’s sports-mad dad Cam Sr. (Don Benjamin) tells his son that “real men make sacrifices” and hands him a macho mantra: “No guts, no glory.”
Back in the present, we learn that Isaiah overcame that touchdown injury to become the GOAT, though he’s no spring chicken now, so his playing days are numbered. Cam Sr. passed away in the intervening years but his dazzlingly talented son is now on track to succeed Isaiah as the Saviors’ star quarterback. “The quarterback is the face of the franchise and he’s usually the captain too because he knows all the [tactical] plays,” Withers says, explaining the position’s preeminence.
But then disaster strikes. Cameron is attacked on the football field by a mysterious figure in a goat costume – admittedly, the symbolism isn’t terribly subtle here. To expedite his recovery from a very nasty head injury, Cameron heads to Isaiah’s desert compound for an intense training camp that gets stranger every day.
“Social media was my first outlet… making people laugh made me feel better about myself”
It would be a shame to say more but Cam’s childhood credo – “no guts, no glory” – proves invaluable as he shoulders everything that ruthless, ranting Isaiah throws at him. It might look like a bad case of “roid rage” if there weren’t something more sinister going on.
“What drew me to Cameron is that he’s carving his own path,” Withers says, pointing out the “generational difference” between him and Isaiah. “The younger generation is more mentally and emotionally aware and wants to take a more holistic route to success,” he says. “Whereas the older generation [dictates] that you must sacrifice everything and [make yourself] miserable to get there.”
It’s easy to see how Withers might relate to Cameron’s rejection of sporting glory at all costs. After he gave up football for acting, he built an online following by posting bits and skits on his own YouTube channel, TyriqTV. “Social media was my first outlet. There were parts of my soul that felt connected to that art form because I got to make people laugh and making people laugh made me feel better about myself,” he says.
Then he moved to Atlanta where he booked several TV guest spots before landing his big break: the lead in a self-contained episode of Donald Glover‘s surreal masterpiece Atlanta. Withers played Aaron, a biracial high school student who has to prove his “Blackness” to secure a college grant. It was a complex, confronting role with parallels to Withers’ own lived experience.
“When I was shooting that episode, I was like, who’s going to connect with my experience?” he says. “Like, I’m mixed, white-passing [and] I identify as a Black man. But I look a specific way.” Then the episode aired and sparked a wealth of conversations – recently, Withers’ sister studied it in her politics class at Stanford. “So many people connected to it which put me further on this journey of making art that people can relate to,” he says.
Atlanta led directly to Withers’ Him audition because Glover is “really good friends” with the film’s casting director, Carmen Cuba. Earlier this year, we also saw him as “charismatic golden boy” Teddy Spencer in I Know What You Did Last Summer, the horror franchise’s moderately successful reboot.
Next up: a more “paternal” character in 2026’s Reminders Of Him, a romantic drama based on a Colleen Hoover novel. Given that Hoover’s earlier bestseller, It Ends With Us, was made into a 2024 blockbuster that grossed $350million globally (aided, of course, by the celebrity legal drama that ensued), this role should do wonders for his profile.
So, where does he want to be in five years? “No matter where I am in life, I hope I’m taking care of my mental health and enjoying what I’m doing,” he says. “I hope I’m still on that journey of healing my inner child because that’s an evolving, everlasting thing.” Then, perhaps wary of sounding a little too earnest, he lightens the vibe. “And, you know, living in a big house that I bought for my mom. With my nephew in private school.”
‘Him’ is in UK cinemas on October 3
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