Dewayne Perkins is conversant with being a Black man in Hollywood, so much so he's taken from his experience to pour into Tyler, his character on the Apple TV+ show The Studio. Tyler is the head of publicity at Continental Studios, led by Seth Rogen's Matt Remick, and contributes to the team's marketing ideas. In episode seven, he's called on to share his opinion on whether casting Ice Cube as the star in a Kool-Aid movie is racist. Dewayne says his character is the token Black person, a role he can identify with.
"There was a Q&A that we did during press where they asked me like how do I relate to my character, Tyler, and I was like, Tyler is the token Black person. I've been and I feel like that in a meta way really reflects Hollywood because I've definitely been the token Black person in quite a few jobs and just the idea being like, 'Well I'm happy to be here.' Also, if you gonna have one Black person, it should be me. Give me that check. Stop playing," he joked with ABC Audio. "And so that's something that I brought into the character, and if that episode in particular is one that really leans into that, and I think it's very funny.”
With experience both on the screen and behind the scenes as a writer, Dewayne says it’s also a true depiction of what happens behind the scenes.
He shares, "I've been behind the curtain now being on the writing side of it and so I think ... there's a lot of truth to The Studio in a way that I really find funny now that I know the inside baseball of it all," he shares.
A new episode airs on Wednesday.
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