TRAMELL TILLMAN
Actor
The actor got his big break in everyone’s favorite workplace dystopia Severance, channeling the middle-manager archetype in a way only someone with extensive prior experience in corporate America could.
WHAT IS YOUR TRADEMARK? Love and light.
WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT? The state of our world has me concerned. More specifically the future of our democracy. The safety and protection of my Black and queer communities and the investment in and care for our children.
WHAT’S COMING UP FOR YOU IN 2025? The release of Severance season two and the latest Mission Impossible film are certainly high on the list, but this year I am entering a new decade. I turn 40 in 2025! I’m stepping into my grown-man era.
NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE. Nature. At one point in my life I wanted to be a storm chaser. I was fascinated by tornadoes. They are stunning —from a distance. What powerful lessons they hold. Maximum effect, minimal effort. Oh, to be a force of nature!
“At one point in my life I wanted to be a storm chaser.”
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SURPRISED YOURSELF IN YOUR PRACTICE? I was doing a production of Shit. Meet. Fan. at MCC Theater. I was asked to participate in Comic-Con International in São Paulo, Brazil, during our production run. This meant leaving the show for four performances. The day I left, I performed in this highly emotional play’s matinee [then] caught a red-eye to Brazil. We did tons of press, meeting fans, and audience engagement. Essentially, I spent less than 36 hours in the city. I flew across international waters back to NYC in just enough time to do two shows of SMF at MCC (the same day), complete a full week of press for Severance in New York, continue the run of the show, and host a network of friends and colleagues, all without anyone in our audiences suspecting a thing— never missing a beat. When I think back on it, I am dumbfounded how I did it. My manager affectionately calls me “The Machine.”
WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? Gospel music. The musical stylings of Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, Daryl Coley, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong are particularly special to me.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE GET WRONG ABOUT YOU? I’m serious… all the time. It’s not true. I will admit I probably don’t help to disprove this theory. I take the work seriously, but not myself. I’m a goof!
WHO DO YOU CALL THE MOST? My manager and my stylist. We love to work.
in your life?
