Born on an Air Force base in Nebraska and raised in Belleville, IL, a suburb of St. Louis, MO, actor Treyvoyn “Trey” Perkins was just like any other kid in many ways. “I liked going to the carnival. I was a huge LEGO fan and played different video games. And then sometimes I just loved to go to the playground at the park.” The twenty four year old, who is featured in the Oscar nominated “Nickel Boys” was, in addition, a huge “Star Wars” fan. Speaking recently with the Amsterdam News, he shared, “I love the original classic ‘Star Wars’ movies, the first three ‘Star Wars’ movies. My nana would take me to Goodwill, where we would sometimes thrift around. I found those ‘Star Wars’ VHS tapes there, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to get those.’ We had a VHS player. And so my Nana bought me the original three ‘Star Wars’ on VHS and I would just watch every single night.”
But Perkins, who is hearing impaired, also did something not so typical of kids — he actively honed his skills as an actor. He was so passionate about the craft as a child, he sometimes did something even more extraordinary. “While watching all my favorite TV shows, growing up,” he shared, “it got to a point to where if a favorite scene played, I’d get up and start acting along that scene as if I were the characters.” One of his favorites is the Jim Carrey comedy “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” It was pivotal to his decision to become an actor. He said, “I really feel I started getting into acting because of that movie.”
In addition to his DIY at-home practices, Perkins did community theater and performances in school throughout middle school and high school. He was majoring in theater dance at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), taking additional online acting courses, and auditioning when he got his big break playing Chickie Pete in the Brad Pitt produced “Nickel Boys.” A story of survival and resilience in the face of injustice and terror, it is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, chronicling the friendship of young African-American boys at an abusive Florida reform school. It is a fictionalization of events at the infamous Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys which operated in Marianna, FL from 1900 to 2011.
Perkins’ time at SIUE was transformative. “They just gave me all the resources, all the tools, all the history behind acting that I never even knew before. Growing up, I thought, ‘I gotta be better than everybody else. I gotta be the star of the show.’ No, that’s not what it is. Acting is simply really about putting yourself in another person’s shoes and telling their stories to the audience. Going to SIUE for theater and dance not only changed my whole perspective on acting, but helped me to grow more into the young man that I am now.”
“Nickel Boys” is Perkins’ first major film production and he considers it a positive experience. “Once I arrived on set, everybody treated me with nothing but love and respect. They truly recognized me for who I am, truly recognized me for my talent, for what I have to offer in this film. That kind of caught me by surprise because I had heard stories about issues that can happen on set.”
Since the film shot in Louisiana, Perkins was able to visit New Orleans, a city which had intrigued him since seeing “The Princess and The Frog” as a child. He was able to take in some of the city’s famed cuisine, particularly the beignets. “I saw ‘The Princess and the Frog’ when it came out in theaters,” he remembered. “I just so happened to stumble upon ‘Princess Tiana’s Cookbook Recipes’ when my mom and I were at the store one day and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, mom, we gotta get this!” Perkins and his mother sometimes tried the beignets recipe, and he was excited to try them in New Orleans while there. “When I went to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans and got an actual, real beignet, it was delicious. I was in love with it.’” He conceded it even topped his and his mom’s efforts. “I was like, ‘Yeah, this is better.’”
Perkins’ hearing loss is moderate in one ear and severe in the other. On the set of “Nickel Boys,” the crew kept his hearing aids close by in case he needed them, and modified some cues for his scenes. For other hearing-impaired actors, he said, “Don’t feel discouraged at all. Having disabilities shouldn’t hinder us from amazing opportunities. I also believe it’s an opportunity, not only for us, but for the audience, to see who we are because at the end of the day, we don’t see a lot of hearing impaired actors on screen. We can use those opportunities to tell our stories. It’s important for us to take heed of that.”
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