Checking in with CRESS WILLIAMS
Even when he’s not in character as “Black Lightning,” Cress Williams likes to keep his body in top condition.
Indeed, the 50-year-old star of The CW action series, which returns for its fourth and final season Monday, Feb. 8, watches what he eats and works out six days a week in the gym in his Atlanta-area home. It’s a habit that’s deeply ingrained in his lifestyle and something he misses when he can’t do it.
“Even before the show came about, I think right around when I turned 40, I really got into health and fitness and really kind of cracked the codebook, diet and exercise-wise,” the 50-year-old actor explains. “And I built a home gym like back in 2013 so I’ve always had one, which is really good during these COVID times, so working out is something I just have always done and it’s like a big part of my life and I really enjoy it. So that’s been easy and it’s something I’ll just maintain long after the show is gone.”
Details are few regarding what’s in store for the series’ final season, save that one episode will reportedly serve as a backdoor pilot for Jordan Calloway’s character of Painkiller, who was revealed to still be alive at the end of Season 3.
As for Jefferson/Black Lightning, he’ll be dealing with the loss of Chief Henderson (former cast member Damon Gupton), who was killed saving Black Lightning’s life in the Season 3 finale.
“(He’s) feeling guilty about that and just trying to reconcile that ...,” Williams says. “Henderson was like his closest male friend so that’s really what he’s wrestling with in the very beginning.”
Name: Cress Williams
Birth date: July 26, 1970
Birthplace: Heidelberg, Germany (raised in Orange County, Calif.)
Family ties: Married actress Kristen Torrianni in 2013; has a son and a daughter from a previous marriage
Education: Has a B.A. in theater from UCLA
Other TV credits: “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “NYPD Blue,” “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “JAG,” “Living Single,” “Leaving L.A.,” “Becker,” “Sports Night,” “Nash Bridges,” “Philly,” “Providence,” “Presidio Med,” “Touched by an Angel,” “The Lyon’s Den,” “Law & Orer: Special Victims Unit,” “House,” “Veronica Mars,” “The West Wing,” “Close to Home,” “ER,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Prison Break,” “Cold Case,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Hart of Dixie,” “Code Black,” “The Flash,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”
Movie credits: “The Doom Generation” (1994), “2 Days in the Valley” (1996), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “The Dogwalker” (1999), “Pursuit of Happiness” (2001), “Little Black Book” (2004), “Ball Don’t Lie” (2008), “In Your Eyes” (2014), “Lowriders” (2016), “Reign of Supermen” (2019), “The Violent Heart” (2020)
Favorite book: “I’m a Christian and so I read the Bible, pieces of the Bible every day.
I’ve read through it multiple times so that’s definitely number one. On a completely side note, I remember when I was in college, one summer while I was working I wound of reading
‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X.’ ... And reading that book really touched me. And then I loved the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series because I’m a nerd at heart. And those books were just phenomenal, the whole series, going all the way from ‘The Hobbit’ to ‘Return of the King.’ ”
Favorite movie: “It’s so odd so I’ll just say it but ‘When Harry Met Sally’ is one of my favorites. It’s definitely my favorite rom-com. The ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, obviously going along with the books, are movies that I love to watch. There’s an old movie called ‘The Apartment,’ because it came on during this Christmas season, that I love watching time and time again. And then weirdly enough because I’m still on a holiday (mood), I remember ‘The Bishop’s Wife,’ the Cary Grant black-and-white. Everybody has their Christmas movies that they have to watch each year and that’s one of mine.”