MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS

Michael K. Williams, the five times Emmy nominated actor who was best known for his roles as Omar Little in The Wire and Albert ‘Chalky’ White in Boardwalk Empire, was found dead in his Brooklyn home on 6 September. Starting his career as a model/dancer, Williams was hand-picked by Tupac Shakur to star as the rapper’s brother in crime-drama Bullet (1996).

Initially typecast as heavies by the scar on his face, the result of being sliced with a razor blade in a fight on his 25th birthday, he played a drug dealer in Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out The Dead (1999) and landed small roles in The Sopranos (2001) and Law & Order (2003).

The actor was in debt, describing himself as “lost”, when he was cast in David Simon’s Baltimore-set social drama The Wire (20022008). He found riches: Omar is often hailed as the greatest character in the greatest TV show, wielding a sawn-off shotgun to rob from drug kingpins, and openly gay to challenge ideas of Black masculinity. “Omar’s a fascinating character,” opined Barack Obama, and Williams’ portrayal of bootlegger Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire’s recreation of ’20s Atlantic City would prove equally complex.

Other notable TV work includes The Night Of (2016), When They See Us (2019) and Lovecraft County (2020), while Williams’ standout films are Gone Baby Gone (2007), 12 Years A Slave (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014). He talked openly about his struggles with drug addiction, and worked as an American Civil Liberties Union ambassador to end mass incarceration. Ava DuVernay, who directed When They See Us, posted on Instagram: “You, brother, touched many. Through your personal interactions big and small, through your community activism, through your struggles, through your triumphs, through your glorious work.” JG