You may know Jean Elie as Issa Rae's quick-witted onscreen brother, Ahmal Dee, in HBO's "Insecure," but the beloved, since-concluded series was just the beginning of the actor's Tinseltown tenure. The Brockton, MA, native is gearing up for his next big project: a dark-comedy coming-of-age series called "Send Help" and green-lit on AMC's Allblk streaming service. Since the "Insecure" series finale, Elie has added "cocreator" to his résumé, leading the Allblk show alongside "Insecure" writer alum Mike Gauyo. "Send Help" stars Elie as first-generation Haitian American Fritz Jean-Baptiste on his journey of "making it" in Hollywood after experiencing a family tragedy — a story largely inspired by the multihyphenate's own life.
"['Send Help'] comes from hearing a lot of people talk about their journey, a lot of first-generation Haitians, Americans, or kids talking about their journey of trying to pursue something so far out of their reach or scope of their family," Elie tells POPSUGAR. "It's about the journey, the process of getting there, and the lessons you learn along the way."
"Send Help" starts with Elie's Fritz comfortable in the strides he's made in his career, but by resting on those laurels, the budding star is in for a rude awakening. "That's the biggest mistake anybody can do when they first get out here and start hitting it big — thinking they're going to be good [right off the bat]," Elie adds. "So now you're finding this guy dealing with all this, but there's so much going on under him that he hasn't dealt with because he's buried himself in work, the life, and everything else outside of taking care of himself."