Tramell Tillman

Tramell Tillman (pronounced trə-MEL) is an American actor born on June 17, 1985, in Washington, D.C. The youngest of five siblings, he was raised Baptist in Largo, Maryland, where his mother worked for the U.S. federal government and his father worked for Amtrak. Tillman attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, graduating in 2003.

Following high school, Tillman enrolled at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans as a pre-med student with the intention of becoming an orthopedic surgeon. He did not find the path fulfilling, and in 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, his parents encouraged him to transfer to Jackson State University, where he changed his major to mass communications. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in 2008. In 2014, he earned a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the University of Tennessee, becoming the first African-American man to receive that degree from the institution.

Before pursuing acting professionally, Tillman spent over a decade working in the nonprofit sector. He has credited his mother with sparking his interest in performance — she volunteered for a church Christmas play when he was ten years old and needed someone to portray her character's son, giving Tillman his first acting role. He has described acting as a means of overcoming his shyness.

Tillman made his Broadway debut in 2019, appearing in The Great Society. He has lived in New York City since 2014.

His breakthrough came with the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller series Severance, in which he has portrayed Seth Milchick since 2022. Tillman drew on his own experiences working in corporate environments to shape the character, describing Milchick as an amalgamation of former colleagues, bosses, and workplace archetypes he encountered during his years outside of acting. His performance, particularly during the series' second season, earned significant critical recognition. In September 2025, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first Black person and the first openly gay person to receive that honor. He had also been the first openly gay Black person to be nominated in the category. In August 2025, Tillman joined the cast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Tillman is gay and has been based in New York City since 2014.