Brian Tyree Henry’s Weight Loss Journey: A Look at His Stunning Transformation
Brian Tyree Henry has lost serious weight after making major changes in his lifestyle. The actor is now living a "soft life," and feeling much healthier.
By D.M.May 12 2025, Published 12:22 a.m. ET
The Breakdown: Brian Tyree Henry went from a soft body to a “soft life” after changing his lifestyle and losing weight. The actor made major changes that led to physical and mental peace.
Brian Tyree Henry just pulled a straight-up glow-up, and the streets are talking. The Emmy-nominated actor, best known for playing Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles on Atlanta, stepped out looking slimmer, sharper, and straight-up healthier than we’ve ever seen him. Here is a look at how the actor lost weight and got healthy.
Brian Tyree Henry changed his entire lifestyle.
In a Men's Health interview, Brian Tyree Henry opened up about his deeply personal weight loss journey. “I’ve made a huge lifestyle change for myself,” he said. “I was just shy of 300 pounds. I’ve lost 85 pounds.”
He credited his transformation to running six miles every other day and switching to a high-protein, plant-based diet. But more than the physical gains, Henry stressed that prioritizing his mental health played a major role in the process.
“I've done so much work to love myself and care about myself,” he says. “I could give zero f**ks about what anybody says about my shape, but I don't want to leave this Earth hating the body I was in. Because this body is temporary, and so is this life. At the end of the day, if being able to go shirtless in every scene is your thing, congratulations. But for me, in my lifetime, I want to be able to love who I am, handles and all.”
The actor's journey was also influenced by personal loss. He lost his mother in 2016 during the filming of Atlanta, and more recently, his father passed away just before production began on his Apple TV+ series, Dope Thief. These experiences prompted Henry to reevaluate his coping mechanisms, leading him to quit smoking and drinking.
Brian Tyree Henry is living his best “soft life.”
Brian now embraces the "soft life," finding happiness in activities like tarot reading and tea drinking. "It's really easy to smoke two packs of cigarettes. I realized, oh wait, I actually want to live. None of that stuff was really living. It was just a way to numb things. It was me trying to survive, but I wasn't really living,” he told People. "I like the soft life. I think we're all striving for softer things in life."
While Brian’s lifestyle may be more relaxed, his grind has not stopped. He stars in the Apple TV+ crime drama Dope Thief, playing Ray Driscoll, a former addict who teams up with his boy Manny (Wagner Moura) to pose as DEA agents and rob drug dealers. The show, based on Dennis Tafoya's novel and executive produced by Ridley Scott, digs deep into themes like friendship, survival, and identity.
In addition to appearing in Dope Thief, Brian has joined the all-star cast of Panic Carefully, a thriller directed by Sam Esmail. In the film, he shares the screen with Julia Roberts, Elizabeth Olsen, and Eddie Redmayne.
