Michael K. Williams, one of the most celebrated character actors of the past twenty years, has died at the age of 54.
The Emmy-nominated star of acclaimed HBO shows The Wire and Boardwalk Empire was found dead in his New York apartment yesterday from a suspected drug overdose.
Prior to his death, Williams had openly discussed his struggles with drugs over the years.
Born in New York in 1966, Williams began his career as a dancer and performed with Madonna and George Michael before moving into acting, with companies including the prestigious National Black Theatre Company.
After early roles in Law & Order (1997) and the Martin Scorsese-directed thriller Bringing Out the Dead (1999), he then made a guest appearance as criminal accomplice Ray Ray in an episode of the hit HBO series The Sopranos (2001).
This sparked the beginning of a very successful collaboration with the major U.S. network that led to his iconic role as Omar Little, a rogue robber who took pleasure in stealing money from rival drug gangs in the lauded crime series The Wire (2002-08).
Over the course of 51 episodes, the character became a cult favourite with audiences, yet Williams’s performance was never acknowledged by major award shows.
From then on, he began to pop up in a variety of films and series including Alias (2005), Boston Legal (2005), Gone Baby Gone (2007), Brooklyn’s Finest (2009) and Community (2011-12).
Another recurring role in an HBO show soon followed when he portrayed wily yet tragic crime boss Chalky White in the popular gangster series Boardwalk Empire (2010-14).
After a brief appearance in the Oscar-winning slavery drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), Williams went on to star in a number of recognisable films including Robocop (2014), Inherent Vice (2014), Ghostbusters (2016), Assassin’s Creed (2016) and Motherless Brooklyn (2019).
Having seen his work in The Wire and Boardwalk Empire fail to gain traction, he finally started to get noticed by the Emmys starting with his role as Jack Gee, the husband of blues singer Bessie Smith in the television biopic Bessie (2015).
That was swiftly followed by Emmy nods for his supporting roles as prisoner Freddy Knight in the crime drama The Night Of (2016) and as Bobby McCray, the father of wrongly-convicted youth Anton McCray in the factual mini-series When They See Us (2019).
Earlier this year, he received a fourth Emmy nomination for his performance as missing father Montrose Freeman in the horror-based HBO series Lovecraft Country (2020). Prior to next Sunday’s event, he was the heavy favourite to win the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Williams is survived by his three children.
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