The actor Michael K Williams, best known for his role as Omar Little within the Wire, has died at the age of 54.
Confirming his death to the Hollywood Reporter, Williams’s representative said that it had been “with deep sorrow that the family announces the passing of Emmy-nominated actor Michael Kenneth Williams. They invite your privacy while grieving this unsurmountable loss.”
Williams, who is believed to possess been found dead at his range in ny , was also known for enjoying Albert “Chalky” White within the series Boardwalk Empire from 2010 to 2014. He received an Emmy nomination earlier this year for the role of Montrose Freeman within the series Lovecraft Country and had appeared in films including 12 Years a Slave and Inherent Vice.
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As well as Lovecraft Country, Williams was nominated for 3 further Primetime Emmy nominations for his work on the HBO series The Night Of, the TV film Bessie and Ava DuVernay’s miniseries once they See Us.
Isiah Whitlock Jr, who played Senator Davis within the Wire, described Williams as “one of the nicest brothers on the earth with the most important heart. a tremendous actor and soul.” Wendell Pierce, who played Detective Bunk Moreland within the series, said: “The depth of my love for this brother can only be matched by the depth of my pain learning of his loss. An immensely talented man with the power to offer voice to the human condition portraying the lives of these whose humanity is seldom elevated until he sings their truth.”
The comedian Travon Free described Williams as a “God damn genius, a black queer icon who challenged the ideas of black masculinity at a time when it wasn’t easy and a very great dude. An enormous loss.” April Reign, the founding father of the #oscarssowhite campaign, said that Williams had “a quiet intensity” and had “expanded the view of what a same-gender loving man seemed like within the roles he played”.
Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to a Bahamian mother and an American father, Williams started his career as a dancer, working with artists like George Michael, Missy Elliot, Ginuwine, and Madonna. Among his first acting roles was a neighborhood within the 1996 film Bullet alongside Tupac Shakur.
“I was angry and that i had tons of energy,” he told the Associated Press in 2018. “It was such an outlet. i used to be not the simplest dancer, you know, by far, but i used to be definitely the foremost passionate. I always had this energy. you usually felt me whether i used to be in sync or not with the opposite guys.”
However, it had been as Omar Little within the Baltimore-set crime drama The Wire – which aired from 2002 to 2008 – that Williams would come to mainstream acclaim. Because the openly gay holdup man, Williams embodied a personality who had not been seen on television before, and who garnered the eye of then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who said that tiny was “not my favorite person” but was his favorite character within the series. He was twice nominated for the NAACP’s Image Awards for his role.
In 2015, Williams told the Guardian that he had struggled to regulate to life following the success of The Wire, and had used the role of Omar “as a way of escape. Now I don’t use my job as how to define me: it’s what I do, not who I’m . I even have that understanding now.”
Williams also worked on reports for Vice News, including a special on incarceration within the US. He had also been working with a replacement Jersey charity on a project to smooth the journey for former prison inmates seeking to re-enter society.
Members of the screen industry paid tribute to Williams on social media as news of his death broke.
David Simon, the creator of The Wire, said on Twitter that he was “Too gutted immediately to mention all that need to be said. Michael was a fine man and a rare talent and on our journey together he always deserved the simplest words. And today those words won’t come.”
Actor John Cusack said Williams was “an unbelievably talented artist” which his portrayal of Omar little was “among the best performances TV and film has ever seen”.
Actor Aisha Tyler said: “Michael K Williams was a gorgeous, passionate, expansive soul. I felt so lucky to possess known him, and that we were all so fortunate to possess enjoyed his incredible talent. He burned so very bright.”
The actor had recently completed work on films including 892 with John Boyega, and in August it had been confirmed that Williams would play Charles “Doc” Broadus, the mentor to George Foreman, in an upcoming biopic of the previous heavyweight boxing champion.
Williams is survived by his son, Elijah.