Medical dramas are a popular genre, but NBC’s Brilliant Minds differs from the rest because it’s based on the life and work of the real Dr. Oliver Sacks and his longtime friend, Dr. Carol Burnett.
The series focuses on a larger-than-life neurologist, Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto), who isn’t afraid to break the rules to help his patients live their lives.
While many stories focus on him, the series wouldn’t have worked without his oldest friend, Dr. Carol Pierce, recruiting him to Bronx Hospital. Together, they run the dream neuropsychology team to help many patients others have given up on.
TV Fanatic chatted with Tamberla Perry about playing Dr. Carol Pierce, working with Zachary Quinto, and why Brilliant Minds differs from other medical dramas.
She was charming to talk to, and after speaking with her, I’m even more excited to see where this series is headed.
Check out the interview below.
So, what enticed you about the script of Brilliant Minds?
The first thing that enticed me was the character Dr. Carol Pierce, or Fierce, as I like to call her because she is fierce. I liked her from the moment she was introduced on the sixth page of this script. I liked what she stood for and what she had to say.
I like how she called her friend out immediately and saw him. The beauty of Oliver and Carol’s relationship is that she sees him when others don’t. But the show is different. It’s unlike any show I have seen in the past in that we are focused on exploring the mind. Not a lot of shows are doing that.
I like her too. Were there any females that inspired you when creating your character?
Oh, yes. Most importantly, Dr. Carol Pierce is inspired by the real-life Carol E. Burnett, a longtime friend and confidante of Doctor Oliver Sacks, with whom the story of this whole series is inspired.
So, I pulled from the available resources about her being the first black woman to graduate from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in 1960.
She was a trailblazer for diversity in medical education and a leader in the fight against health disparities. L learned some amazing things from some information I could find about her.
I’ve also infused many women from my life into this character, like my mom, my sisters, and two big stars, Diahann Carroll and Regina King, who are women I adore in this industry.
She is an amalgamation of all these different women in my life. And those women bring class, wit, humor, fierceness, and boldness to the role.
That’s wonderful. What can you tell me about Dr. Carol Pierce and Dr. Oliver Wolf’s friendship? It seems like they have quite a history.
Well, just like the real Carol Burnett and Doctor Oliver Sacks. Uh, Carol Pierce and Doctor Oliver Wolfe are good friends.
We’re not tethered to the time period, which is one of the lovely things about the story that we’re telling. So even though real-life people inspire these stories and these characters, we aren’t tethered.
But our relationship is that we went to school together. We are each other’s day ones. We have been friends for a long time. She knows him. He knows her.
She’s chief of psychology, who recruits him to work at her hospital to create this neuropsychology dream team to help patients whom people deem hopeless, crazy, or discard.
So, she knew that other people might deem him challenging or hard to work with when recruiting him. She knew that he was a genius and that he would put himself in the shoes of all of his patients to understand what was going on with them.
And what’s it been like working with Zachary Quinto?
Everybody loves to ask that question. It’s amazing. I can’t describe how close we’ve gotten. My first time meeting him was during my last audition for this show. It was over Zoom just like this.
But it has been an extraordinary experience. He is a fantastic leader and just a fantastic friend on and off the screen, and I hope our friendship off the screen translates to the screen.
You said this show is different, so how will the two of you combine psychology and neurology to approach some of these cases differently than many other medical shows do?
There are some amazing medical dramas out there. What makes us different is that we won’t fix you.
You’re going to leave our hospital with the same problem you came in with, but we’re going to give you some tools—both of us and both of our departments—to adapt. The show is about adaptability in the real world.
Just like you wouldn’t expect to go into your therapy session and be cured in an hour, that will not happen in an hour of our episodes. You’re going to see the same characters week to week occasionally.
We’re the dream team of Psych and Neuro, along with our amazing interns are giving people tools to function in their new normal.
Well, that is interesting. What can you tease about some of the cases? Like what kind of cases are we going to see?
Every case we have is unique, but they are all real. Many of them are drawn from Oliver Sacks’s own and real-life cases. We have a physician on staff who is also a writer who brings ideas to the table.
There’s going to be many cases that seem absurd. Um, but it’s all real. And I think that one of the things that we want to convey to our audiences is that this stuff is real.
We are not making anything up over here. So, you must stay tuned and see what’s happening weekly. But I think you’re in for a real treat.
You said that some guest stars will appear more than once.
Oh, absolutely. Because that’s the nature of mental health, it’s not something that can be cured. There’s no cure for it. If you take medicines, those medicines will eventually not work as well.
But the beauty of our show is that we tell you how to cope. We give you tools. So yes, you will see some cases that go on for many episodes.
That is fascinating. Why do you think Brilliant Minds will appeal to fans of medical dramas?
Because it’s different. Because mental health is such a hot topic right now. Now more than ever, people are so transparent about their journeys and mental health that they can admit that something is happening.
I think that people will see themselves. If people come to the show and see themselves, the doctors, the patients, or any of the guest stars, the characters we’ve created, then we’ve done our jobs because that’s what we want.
We want people to come to watch the show. We want them to feel seen.
Brilliant Minds premieres on Monday, September 23 at 10/9c on NBC and streams on Peacock the following day.
Please check back here after the episode for our weekly review.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.