‘Brilliant Minds’: Tamberla Perry on playing a doctor on the new NBC drama

Premiering on after “The Voice” on Monday, September 23 on NBC, “Brilliant Minds,” a new medical drama starring Zachary Quinto and Tamberla Perry. This marks Quinto’s return to NBC since “Heroes.”

Inspired by world-famous author and physician Oliver Sacks, “Brilliant Minds” follows a neurologist and his team of interns as they explore the human mind while grappling with their own relationships and mental health. Starring along with Quinto and Perry are Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs, Spence Moore II, Teddy Sears, and Donna Murphy.

For Perry, who is cast as Sacks boss, Chief of Psychiatry Dr. Carol Pierce, playing a doctor in different than the traditional roles one might see on TV.

“Dr. Carol is the chief of psychiatry, so I’m not dealing with brains, I’m not pulling out any scalpels, I’m not doing any of those things, so I get to watch them figure out what to do with their hands,” Perry tell reporters at the NBC portion of the Television Critics Press Tour.  “We do have a wonderful team of medical professionals that are there with us every step of the way helping us pronounce words like amenorrhea, you know? Get it right. They make us look good. So it’s been fascinating. Somebody wrote it on my Instagram page the other day, you all need to hire me because when I watch medical professionals on television get words wrong, it drives me crazy. Well, I don’t think we’re going to get anything wrong on this show.”

The premiere episode entitled “Pilot,” Dr. Wolf is recruited work at the hospital. With unconventional methods, Wolf helps an Alzheimer’s patient (played by Tony-winner Andre De Shields) in an end-of-life care facility. His disease is in its advanced stages, but the doctor is determined to help him reconnect with his family. The show takes advantage of De Shields’ voice as he sings heartfelt rendition of “God Only Knows.”

Perry appreciates the journey her character is taking and applies it to her own life.

“It has been an amazing opportunity,” Perry said of working on the show. “As I’ve gone through this journey of developing this character, I’ve realized that we are not as alike as I thought we were in terms of the way we think. Matters of the heart, matters of the mind, I am a very logical person. Carol is the Chief of Psychiatry. She handles things a lot with her heart, and that’s often the way she treats her patients. She is unwavering. She is fiercely loyal. And I’m going to be very transparent, I have never done actual therapy in my life. And in watching this though, because mental health is such — it’s at the forefront of most conversations right now, it’s really making me take a step back and deciding that that might be my first step.”

“Brilliant Minds” premieres Monday, September 23 at 10 PM ET/PT on NBC.