Biography

Childhood and early career

Williams was born on the southside of Lakewood, New Jersey then at age six moved to Brooklyn, New York. After getting in some trouble as a youth he enrolled in school and 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 "pounded the pavement," visiting record labels and dance studios looking for work. He eventually got a job as a background dancer on a music tour, which led to more work appearing as a dancer in videos and on tours, as well as some modeling work.

Early acting career

On his 25th birthday, just days after appearing in an ad campaign, Williams got into a confrontation in Brooklyn, in which an adversary cut his face and neck with a razor. One cut came close to his jugular vein and nearly killed him.

According to Williams, the scar helped to launch his acting career. Within months of the incident, photographers were stopping him on the street, asking him to pose. He began getting more calls to do music videos, which led to some minor work playing a thug in TV shows. In 1994 he appeared in the music video for Madonna's song "Secret" and in 1996 he appeared in Tupac Shakur's crime drama Bullet.

In 1997 he made an appearance on Law & Order (he appeared again in 2001), and in 2001 on The Sopranos.

The Wire

Williams is best known for his portrayal of Omar Little in The Wire, which began filming in 2002. Williams received the part after only a single audition. Williams 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. Williams has stated that he pursued the role because he was intrigued by the character's contradictory nature. For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. The character 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, not unlike the Robin Hood of Baltimore's west side projects, although his contradictory nature was questioned as a little too strange. 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."

Williams has stated that he feels that the character is well liked because of 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 had both positive and negative reactions to the character's homosexuality and feels that he is successful in challenging attitudes and provoking discussion with the role. In 2007 he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar. It was during this time that he also discovered Felicia Pearson (Snoop) in a bar.

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, Boston Legal, The Sopranos, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Human Giant and Third Watch. 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 detective 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 characterised 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 Curtis Craig in the 2004 film "Doing Hard Time". Craig is a man from Detroit who accidentally shoots a young boy during a shootout. He's sentenced to five years in prison, where he encounters the father of the slain young boy who seeks revenge for the death of his son.

He played James, a policeman, in singer R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet". He also appeared in The Game's "This Is How We Do" music video, Tony Yayo's "It's a Stick Up" music video and Cam'ron's movie 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 with The Wire co-star Hasan Johnson.

Williams had a very brief cameo in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. The scene (in which Williams has no lines) shows his reaction to his car being destroyed during the fight sequence at the end of the film.

Williams will play the role of The Thief in the 2009 film The Road, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.

Williams also starred in the movie "A Day in the life", which was directed, produced and starring rapper, Sticky Fingaz. The entire movie is a musical, of sorts, with every line being delivered by rap. This is the first movie of it's kind and Williams does an incredible job portraying "gangsta", Killa Mike.