An NYPD representative told The Hollywood Reporter that the “Lovecraft Country” performer, a five-time Emmy nominee, was discovered dead in his Brooklyn home on Monday.
The Hollywood Reporter was informed by Michael K. Williams’ representative that the well-known actor, who was five times nominated for an Emmy for most popular performance for his role as HBO’s Omar Little, a Baltimore stick-up man, has passed suddenly. His age was 54.
“The family announces the passing of actor Michael Kenneth Williams, who was nominated for an Emmy.” As they mourn this unfathomable loss, they ask for your privacy, his longtime representative Marianna Shafran of Shafran PR stated.
Williams
More precisely, Williams portrayed Montrose Freeman on HBO’s Lovecraft Country, for which he was nominated for a 2021 Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series (awards are on September 19). Additionally, he portrayed Bobby McCray in Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix miniseries When They See Us, about the Central Park Five. McCray’s father, Antron McCray (Caleel Harris), persuaded his son to sign a false confession.
The raspy-voiced Williams also played racketeer Chalky White on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire from 2010 to 2014, irate Vietnam veteran Leonard Pine on SundanceTV’s Hap and Leonard for three seasons (2016–18), and close Freddy Knight in HBO’s 2016 miniseries The Night Of.
The network released a statement saying, “We are devastated to learn of the demise of Michael Kenneth Williams, a member of the HBO family for more than 20 years.””Although Michael’s extraordinary artistic abilities are well known, we knew him as a close friend who was adored by everyone who had the honor of working with him. We are so sorry for his family’s unfathomable loss and offer our sincerest condolences.
Williams was born on November 22, 1966, in Brooklyn. His father was from South Carolina, while his mother was from the Bahamas. He grew up in the East Flatbush Vanderveer housing projects and went to the borough’s George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School.
“I was picked on a lot as a child,” he said to Time magazine in 2017. It was me, the cheesy one. I wasn’t really well-liked by the women. Being sensitive is not seen as a virtue in a community that leans heavily toward alpha males.