Terrell Carter is one of the stars of Tyler Perry’s hottest new show, “Beauty In Black.” In the Netflix series, he portrays attorney Varney, the lawyer for the family. This isn’t Carter’s first time around the block with Tyler Perry either; he has worked with the iconic movie mogul for more than 20 years. He also is a singer and played a major role in the show “Empire” as well. The second half of season one of “Beauty In Black” is out now, and Terrell Carter stepped into the Star Studio to tell us all about it.
Why did you audition for attorney Varney?
He wrote the character for me. Tyler Perry has had my back for 20 years since I started with him. But I still kind of had to audition, he doesn’t just give it to you. You still gotta earn it. Oh, you still gotta earn it. And every day on set, he reminds me, so was it gonna say, Yeah, auditioning for it and getting in there for it, the character to see what he had written, and it’s like nothing he’s ever written before. So, it wasn’t like I could base it off something or some other character. So, I looked at it and I thought how I wanted to develop this guy. This guy has so many different layers, you know, and it was a way for me to show a different side to a character like this on television. Whenever you see the LGBTQ character, usually it’s like either the comic relief or over the top, or it’s just always a picture of something that’s not like everyday life in everyday situations. And he’s not the weaker man either. I’m 6 foot 5. So if I’m playing him, he’s intimidating, but I was able to show how this man is just a man.
Was it an easy role for you to embody?
Easy role for me, you know, I’ve been in this business a long time, and when you’re in this business, who you are matters. Basically, you’re what they see and the characters you play, that’s what you see and that’s who you are. I had to grow up in this business and learn how to be Terrell Carter, but also be Terrell Carter and find a good happy medium in between that. So, I was able to take it from my own life and put my experiences together to build this guy in a way that I could be happy to say. You know, he’s not just attorney Varney, but he’s Terrell Carter portraying the attorney.
Why do you think Tyler Perry‘s “Beauty In Black” has resonated with audiences like it has?
Well, first of all, it’s Tyler Perry. Because Tyler Perry has a audience, and he has a track record of No. 1s, that’s just hands down whether people you know, support him or not. Some people like his stuff, some people don’t. It doesn’t matter, because No. 1 amounts of people like his stuff. But I also believe that the caliber of the storyline, it’s great to have a storyline that’s written by us, about us. You know, you can’t a lot of times, a lot of times, you know, TV before Tyler Perry, have been written by other races for Black people. So they were telling Black stories by white writers. Tyler Perry’s writing us for us, and now he’s on a platform like Netflix, where his hands aren’t tied. And he can really tell us the nitty gritty.
Who are the top three actors you have acted beside?
Keith David. Keith David is exactly who you think he is, and absolutely hilarious. When we were doing “From Scratch,” he was telling me jokes. We were in Sicily, and had to share a green room, dressing room with him, and I’m sitting there and I didn’t know what to say. He’s looking at me like, “Say something or you can get the hell out of here.” So we started talking, and it was just what he shared with me the whole time. Then Tyler Perry, I mean, I’ve been sharing the screen with him and just the behind the scenes, the brotherhood, everything throughout my entire years, I’ve really enjoyed that. And then I will say Terrence Howard. While on “Empire,” Terrence Howard was one of the kindest people that I’d met in television when I got on “Empire.” And I was on “Empire” from season three to the finale, so I didn’t meet the cast until that next season.
