Life and career

Born in Brooklyn, to an African American father from South Carolina and a Bahamian mother from Nassau, Michael K. Williams was raised in the Vandaveer housing projects in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City and attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. According to a DNA analysis, he is descended partly from the Mende people of Sierra Leone.

After getting in some trouble as a youth, he enrolled at the National Black Theatre in New York City. He later got a job at a pharmaceutical company. Inspired by Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, he left school and quit his job, against the wishes of his family, to pursue a career as a dancer. During a year in which he was intermittently homeless, Williams visited record labels and dance studios looking for work. He got a job as a background dancer on a music tour for Kym Sims' dance anthem Too Blind To See It, which led to more work appearing as a dancer in videos and on tours, such as with George Michael, Madonna, as well as some modeling work. He also choreographed Crystal Waters' 1994 single "100% Pure Love".

He was given one of his first acting roles after being discovered by Tupac Shakur and was cast as High Top, the brother and henchman to Shakur's drug kingpin Tank, in the 1996 film Bullet.

Williams is well known for his large facial scar, which he received during a bar fight on Jamaica Avenue on his 25th birthday in which he was slashed with a razor blade. The scar led to his being offered roles as a thug in music videos. He eventually embraced the scar, citing Seal's scarred face as an inspiration. His scar became his signature and earned him photo shoots with noted photographers like David LaChapelle.

Michael K. Williams also serves as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador to the Campaign for Smart Justice.

The Wire

Williams is known for his portrayal of Omar Little in The Wire, which began filming in 2002. The character was based on Donnie Andrews, as well as other crime figures in Baltimore. Williams received the part after only a single audition. He was initially told that the character was slated to appear in just seven episodes of the first season and feared that the character would be killed before the end of the season. However, creator David Simon stated that they always planned to keep the character as part of the continuing ensemble should the show be renewed beyond the first season.

For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. Omar was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brings to the portrayal. Omar has been named as one of the first season's richest characters, a Robin Hood of Baltimore's west side projects. The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him "arguably the show’s single greatest achievement". In 2007 he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar.

Williams pursued the role because he was intrigued by Omar's contradictory nature. He felt Omar's popularity stemmed from his honesty, lack of materialism, individuality and his adherence to his strict code. He feels that the role has been a breakthrough in terms of bringing attention to him and getting further roles. Williams has received both positive and negative reactions to Omar's homosexuality and feels that he is successful in challenging attitudes and provoking discussion with the role. During the previous year, before the third season, he discovered Felicia Pearson (Snoop) in a Baltimore bar.

In 2008, then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama cited The Wire as his favorite television show, and called Omar his favorite character. About Omar, Obama said, "That’s not an endorsement. He's not my favorite person, but he's a fascinating character... he's the toughest, baddest guy on the show."

Williams suffered from an identity crisis during his portrayal of Omar Little, going by his character's name, and developed a habit of smoking cannabis and an addiction to cocaine in 2004.

Other work

Williams had a recurring role on J. J. Abrams' Alias. He also had a recurring role on Abrams' produced Six Degrees. He has also made brief appearances on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (playing two different characters on two different seasons), Boston Legal, The Sopranos, Law & Order (playing three different characters on three different seasons), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (also playing two different characters on two different seasons), Human Giant and Third Watch.

Williams makes a brief appearance as the shooter at the beginning of the music video for Young Jeezy's "Bury Me a G".

He appeared in The Kill Point as recurring guest star Q, a police sniper alongside The Wire co-stars J.D. Williams, Michael Hyatt and Leo Fitzpatrick. He auditioned for the starring role of Mr. Cat but was forced to take a smaller role due to scheduling conflicts; the part of Mr. Cat went to J.D. Williams instead. Williams played a Boston area detective named Devin Amronklin in the 2007 film Gone, Baby, Gone. The film is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who has written for The Wire, and was adapted and directed by Ben Affleck. Amronklin is a recurring character in Lehane's Kenzie-Genarro series of books. Williams says that he enjoyed working with Affleck and characterized him as a passionate and hands-on director. The film also featured his co-star from The Wire, Amy Ryan.

He played Teddy, the former boyfriend of Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington) in the Chris Rock film I Think I Love My Wife. He played James, a policeman, in singer R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet". He also appeared in The Game's "Dreams" and "How We Do" music videos, Tony Yayo's "It's a Stick Up" music video and Cam'ron's film Killa Season, as well as Trick Daddy's video "Tuck Your Ice In", Sheek Louch's "Good Love", and Young Jeezy's "Bury me a G" alongside his The Wire co-star Hassan Johnson. In 2013, Williams appeared in ASAP Rocky's video for "Phoenix". Williams played the role of The Thief in the 2009 film The Road, an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. In 2010, Williams appeared in the film Life During Wartime. The character he played, Allen, was portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film's predecessor, Happiness.

Williams also starred in the film A Day in the Life, which was directed, produced and stars rapper Sticky Fingaz. The entire film is a musical with every line being delivered in rap verse. Williams starred in HBO's Boardwalk Empire for its five seasons (2010-2014). He appeared as Albert "Chalky" White, the leader of 1920s Atlantic City's black community.

On July 23, 2011, Community creator Dan Harmon revealed that Williams would star in "at least three episodes" of the sitcom's third season. He plays the role of Biology Professor Marshall Kane at Greendale Community College. In November 2011, it was announced that Quentin Tarantino had written a new character into the script of his film Django Unchained. Williams, who had previously confirmed that he was actually in talks with Tarantino to take on the titular role of Django, was to portray a minor character in the film, but scheduling conflicts with Boardwalk Empire prevented him from doing so.

On May 16, 2012, Williams announced that he is an executive producer of the independent film Snow On Tha Bluff, Williams' first film under his company, Freedome Productions. On Power 105.1fm's The Breakfast Club, Williams revealed the June 19 release date for Snow on tha Bluff, describing the movie as "real graphic": "everything that is wrong with the 'hood is in this movie". Williams also shared on The Breakfast Club that he was starring in an African American western, They Die By Dawn, with his co-star Snoop from the HBO series The Wire. Williams also revealed that he is starring in the lead role as Ol'Dirty Bastard (ODB) from the Wu-Tang Clan in the movie Dirty Whiteboy in 2014, which is based on the relationship ODB had with his manager during the last two years of his life. Williams mentioned the piece was special to Ol' Dirty Bastard because he grew up listening to him and to Wu-Tang and he is also a Brooklyn native.

In 2013, he starred in MGMT's music video for Cool Song No. 2.

Williams was featured modelling for GAP's 2014 fall collection.

On March 9, 2015, it was announced that Williams would appear in SundanceTV's Hap & Leonard.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Mugshot	Rumor
1996	Bullet	High Top
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	Drug Dealer
2000	Broke even	Kenny
2004	Doing Hard Time	Curtis Craig
2005	Guile	Ken	Short film
2005	Trapped in the Closet Chapters 1-12	James
2005	The Orphan King	N/A
2006	Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club	Tone
2006	The Bondage	Willie
2006	Mercenary for Justice	Samuel Kay
2007	5up 2down	Terance
2007	Trapped in the Closet Chapters 13-22	James
2007	Trapped in the Closet: The BIG Package	James
2007	I Think I Love My Wife	Teddy
2007	Gone Baby Gone	Devin
2008	The Incredible Hulk	Harlem Bystander
2008	KeAnthony: A Hutlaz Story	Shawn	Short film
2008	Miracle at St. Anna	Tucker
2009	Tell-Tale	Acherton
2009	Addicts	Lil J
2009	The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll	Sonnyboy
2009	A Day in the Life	Killer Mike
2009	Life During Wartime	Allen	Nominated—Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2009	A Kiss of Chaos	Demetrius
2009	You're Nobody 'til Somebody Kills You	Ad
2009	The Road	Thief
2009	Wonderful World	Ibu
2010	Brooklyn's Finest	Red
2011	Bayou Black	Willy Jones	Short film
2012	LUV	Detective Holloway
2012	Crispus Attucks: Today Was a Good Day	N/A	Short film
2012	W8 (Weight)	Derrick Jones	Short film
2012	The Wire: The Musical	Omar Little	Short film
2012	Nobody's Nobody's	Emeka	Short film
2012	Trapped in the Closet: The Next Installment	James
2013	12 Years a Slave	Robert	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2013	Snitch	Malik
2013	They Die by Dawn	N/A	Short film
2013	The Devil Goes Down	The Devil	Short film
2014	RoboCop	Jack Lewis
2014	The Purge: Anarchy	Carmelo Johns
2014	Kill the Messenger	Ricky Ross
2014	Inherent Vice	Tariq Khalil
2014	The Gambler	Neville Baraka	Nominated—Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
2015	Anesthesia	Jeffrey
2015	Captive	Detective John Chestnut
2016	Triple 9	Sweet Pea
2016	Ghostbusters	Hawkins	Post-production
2016	Assassin's Creed	TBA	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Law & Order	Delmore Walton	Episode: "Shadow"
2001	Law & Order	Marcus Cole	Episode: "A Losing Season"
2001	Deadline	Darin	Episode: "The Undesirables"
2001	The Sopranos	Ray Ray	Episode: "Army of One"
2002-2008	The Wire	Omar Little	41 episodes Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
2002	Third Watch	Cop #1	Episode: "Superheroes Part 2"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Double-D Gamble	Episode: "Escape"
2005	Alias	Roberts	3 episodes
2005	Boston Legal	Randall Kirk	Episode: "Gone"
2005	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Ronnie	Episode: "Hollywood Brass"
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Jimmy	Television movie
2006-2007	Six Degrees	Michael	3 episodes
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Victor Bodine	Episode: "Underbelly"
2007	The Kill Point	Quincy	8 episodes
2008	Human Giant	Chris Barksdale	Episode: "Respect. Honor. Discipline."
2008	CSI: NY	Reggie Dunham	Episode: "The Box"
2009	Law & Order	Charles Cole	Episode: "Great Satan"
2009	The Philanthropist	Dax Vahagn	8 episodes
2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Laurent	Episode: "World's End"
2010-2014	Boardwalk Empire	Chalky White	35 episodes Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2011	Detroit 1-8-7	Clarence Warrenton	Episode: "Legacy/Drag City"
2011	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	N/A	Episode: "Alien Part 2"
2011	The Cookout 2	Cable Guy Mike	Television movie
2011-2012	Community	Professor Marshall Kane	3 episodes
2013	Walk This Way	Rev. Daniels	7 episodes
2013	High School USA!	Lucius	Episode: "Adderall"
2015	Bessie	Jack Gee	Television movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2015	The Spoils Before Dying	Rock Banyon	6 episodes
2016	Hap and Leonard	Leonard Pine	6 episodes
2016	The Night Of	Freddy	Upcoming miniseries
2017	When We Rise	Ken Jones	Upcoming miniseries

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Battlefield 4	SSgt. Kimble "Irish" Graves	Voice and Motion Capture

[ Source: Wikipedia ]