Jackson State alumnus Tramell Tillman, who plays Mr. Milchick in Apple TV+'s acclaimed original series Severance, made history at Sunday evening's Emmys. He won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first Black man to ever receive the award.
Tillman's portrayal of the menacing Mr. Milchick, a manager at the mysterious Lumon Industries, is one of the standout performances of the series. The show features a fictional procedure known as “severance,” where employees' personal and professional memories are surgically separated.
Tillman made headlines for calling on his HBCU experiences as both a graduate of Jackson State and a former student at Xavier University of Louisiana. The season two finale of Severance featured a marching band scene that was a direct callback to Jackson State's “Sonic Boom of the South.” In an interview with TV Guide, Tillman stated that he wanted the scene to be a tribute to HBCU band culture.
“And the second [marching band performance] is a big nod to HBCU bands. I graduated from an HBCU, Jackson State University, and their band is the Sonic Boom of the South, the best marching band in the entire world. When I was a student at Jackson State University, I would marvel at the Boom, especially the agility and the endurance of the majorettes and the drum majors and the band as a whole. So this was my opportunity to live the fantasy of being a drum major at Jackson State University.”
Tillman has never been shy about his Jackson State experience, as he earned a degere in mass communication. Before attending Jackson State, he was a student at Xavier University of Louisiana, another HBCU.
“I picked medicine,” Tillman said in an interview with Mr. Feel Good. “I decided I was going to be an orthopedic surgeon and went to Xavier University, which was number one for sending African Americans to medical school, in 2003. But I hated it. I hated chemistry. I knew there was something else that I should be doing. I wanted to do something that made me happy, that gave me joy, so I transferred to Jackson State University in Mississippi and got a degree in mass communications.”
