Throughout his lifetime, Michael K. Williams was one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood. Hailing from a humble beginning in Brooklyn, New York City, young and troubled William dropped out of school to seriously pursue his acting career. Before becoming who we know today and winning several Emmy Awards, William would hop from one audition to another while being intermittently homeless.
Unfortunately, The Wire actor has just recently passed away at the age of 54. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, on September 6, his nephew found him dead in his Brooklyn penthouse.
"It is with deep sorrow that the family announces the passing of Emmy nominated actor Michael Kenneth Williams. They ask for your privacy while grieving this unsurmountable loss," the actor's longtime spokesperson, Marianna Shafran, told the publication.
To celebrate the life of the late actor, here are some of the most significant and greatest achievements of Michael K. Williams' career.
8 Michael K. Williams Played Omar Little On 'The Wire'
As mentioned, the Emmy-winning actor is best known for portraying Omar Little, the sleazy, openly gay, Robin Hood-like drug dealer, on HBO's The Wire. In fact, the iconic scar he had after a bar fight on his 25th birthday helped him landed the role. The show was a massive success and has been constantly hailed as one of the best of all time.
"That’s not an endorsement," former US president Barack Obama once said during an interview, praising the show as his favorite while highlighting the actor's work. "He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character."
"It was the first show I saw that was created as what I call 'edutainment'. It dived so honestly into what was wrong in our society, from the police department to our lawmakers to our school system, and the media," the actor spoke about his time portraying the gun-toting character during a 2018 interview with the BBC. "It represented what was happening in our community."
7 He Received Critical-Acclaim With 'Boardwalk Empire'
Despite scoring a massive critical success with The Wire, Williams didn't stop there. He later rejoined the HBO family in 2010 on Terence Winter's crime drama Boardwalk Empire. The show was a big success, winning 20 out of its 57 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations during its four-year run until 2014. The late actor portrayed Chalky, a powerful Atlantic City gangster.
6 Ventured Into Voice Acting With 'Battlefield 4'
Acting in front of a running camera is one thing, but bringing a character to life through voice-acting is another job that's hard to pull. Later on, the actor made his first-ever foray into video games. He portrayed Sgt. Kimble "Irish" Graves in EA and DICE's war hit, Battlefield 4. With over 7 million copies sold, the game became one of the highest-selling titles of the long-running franchise. He would later reprise his role in the upcoming Battlefield 2042, coming to stores in October 2021.
5 Michael K. Williams Launched His Own Production Company
Williams launched his Freedome Productions company in the early 2010s. He made his first foray into producing in 2012 with Snow on tha Bluff, a found footage-style indie film centering around a real-life drug dealer from Atlanta as he gets into various dangerous criminal activities. A spiritual sequel, Snow on tha Bluff 2, was released in 2015 featuring Snoop Dogg.
4 Exposed The Dark Side Of The Country's Juvenile Justice System Through Documentaries
In addition to his impressive acting portfolio, Williams has also worked with Vice News to narrate two documentaries. One of them is 2016's Black Market, where he investigated the world of smuggling, drug trafficking, and underground fights. He later linked up again in 2018 for "Raised in the System," exposing the crisis of mass incarceration among American juveniles.
3 Went On Tour With The Likes Of Madonna & George Michael
Before he was an actor, young Williams was a theatre performer and a dancer. After dropping out of school at a young age, he's landed a gig as a background dancer for Kym Sims. This opportunity gave him a good connection to Hollywood insiders, as the late actor toured with big names at the time like Madonna, Crystal Waters, and George Michael.
2 Landed Another Emmy Nomination With Bessie Smith's Biopic Flick
There are many cases where TV actors couldn't succeed in movies, but Williams isn't one of them. In fact, he landed another Emmy win for his portrayal of Jack Gee, the husband of blues legend Bessie Smith, in the HBO biopic Bessie. He shared the stage with Queen Latifah who portrayed the titular hero.
1 Michael K. Williams Starred In Several Hip-Hop Music Videos
Throughout his lifetime, Michael K. Williams has also worked with some of the top talents in hip-hop. He has cameo appearances in several classic rap videos: G-Unit members The Game's "How We Do" and Tony Yayo's "It's a Stick Up," ASAP Rocky's "Phoenix," and more. In fact, his deep love for the genre and the culture as a whole came after legendary rap star Tupac Shakur helped him land his first movie role, playing the rapper's brother in 1996's Bullet.
“[Tupac] saw me and my picture and saw that scar was like, ‘Yo, go find this dude, he looks thugged out enough to play my little brother,'” the late actor remembered during an interview.
