Michael Kenneth Williams was born on the 22nd November 1966, in Brooklyn, New York City USA, of Bahamian and Afro-American descent. He is an actor well known for the roles of Omar Little in the television series “The Wire” (2002 – 2008), and Albert White in the series “Boardwalk Empire” (2010 – 2014). Williams is also known as a dancer. Michael K. has been active in the entertainment industry since 1995.
How much is the net worth of Michael K. Williams? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the overall size of his wealth is equal to $1.5 million, as of the data presented in the middle of 2016. Acting is the main source of Williams net worth, although he also receives income from dancing.
Michael K. Williams Net Worth $1.5 Million
To begin with, he was raised in Brooklyn. Williams is known for having the large scar on his face, which is the result of being slashed with razor blades in a fight in a bar during his 25th birthday celebration. The scar has become his signature feature, and because of that Michael has been photographed by famous photographers like David LaChapelle. He is a graduate from National Black Theatre in New York City.
Concerning his professional career, Williams began landing appearances in films and on television during the late 1990s. His breakthrough came in 2002, after he landed a role in the drama series aired on HBO, “The Wire” (2002 – 2008). The series were critically acclaimed, and the character of Omar Little emerged as a major figure in all the seasons of the above mentioned series. When the series was closed in 2008, the face of the actor was known in all Hollywood. Thus, he managed to appear in a number of blockbusters like “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) by Louis Leterrier, “Life During Wartime” (2009) written and directed by Todd Solondz and others. It should be noted that he continued creating really developed roles on television too; he starred in the only season of the action series “Kill Point: In the Line of Fire” (2008), then in 2009 he appeared in the short-lived legal series “The Philanthropist”. From 2010 to 2014, Williams appeared in the main cast of the historical series “Boardwalk Empire” produced by Martin Scorsese – the series lasted five seasons allowing the actor to embody the protagonist Albert White nicknamed Chalky. Meanwhile, he tried comedy also: he lent his features to a biology teacher in three episodes of the third season of “Community” in 2011. Michael then embodied a reverend in the ephemeral “Walk This Way” in 2013. He participated in the parodic mini-series “The Spoils Before Dying” in 2015, and starred in the crime drama thriller “Captive” (2015) directed by Jerry Jameson. All these ventures steadily contributed to his net worth.
Recently, he was cast as a main in the drama film “The Land” (2016) by Steven Caple Jr., crime thriller film “Triple 9” (2016) by John Hillcoat and comedy film “Ghostbusters” (2016) by Paul Feig. Currently, he is working on the set of the upcoming film “Assassin’s Creed” and upcoming miniseries “When We Rise” as well as starring in the television series “Hap and Leonard” (2016 – present) and “Black Market with Michael K. Williams” (2016 – present). To summarise, all the above mentioned roles have added sums to the total size of Michael K. Williams’ net worth.
Finally, in the personal life of the actor, he is single but has a son, details of any relationship have not been made public.
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Nominations
Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast (2009), NAACP Image Award, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (2013), Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (2014), Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor (2015), Satel...
Movies
“The Incredible Hulk” (2008), “Kill Point: In the Line of Fire” (2008), “The Philanthropist” (2009), “Life During Wartime” (2009), “Walk This Way” (2013), “The Spoils Before Dying” (2015), “Captive” (2015), “The Land” (2016), “Triple 9” (2016), “Ghostbusters” ...
TV Shows
“The Wire” (2002-2008), “Boardwalk Empire” (2010-2014), “Community” (2011), “Hap and Leonard” (2016-), “Black Market with Michael K. Williams” (2016-)
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Trademark
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Deep gravelly voice
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Facial scar
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Quote
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[on 'The NIght Of] In my perspective, the show has very little to do with the subject of race, and everything to do with class. I've come to realize that the race thing is a smoke screen. The real war is a war on class. It's about how much green you have in your pocket. In this country, you can unfortunately literally get away with murder if you have enough political background behind you. You are innocent until you are proven poor.
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Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and I respect them but I do my work and I go home. If they only see Omar as a one-dimensional character then they don't understand The Wire (2002) as a whole. What I will say about Omar is he helped the Black community by breaking this stereotype we have about homosexuals. I'm actually proud about that.
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The first season was great. I was at an all-time high, getting more money than I ever seen. But I was careless. I blew all my money. See, I am from Brooklyn and when we get money we love to spread it around. I even bought me a crib on Baltimore Hill. I was out in the streets getting into a lot of trouble. I ended up getting evicted from my crib and having to stay with my baby mother until the next season. You only got paid for the episodes you were in and there wasn't any Omar in season two, so I was basically broke until season three. But I loved playing Omar.
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[on how he got his facial scar] It happened on my 25th birthday. I was acting immaturely because I was on that "liquid courage" [alcohol], and some words were exchanged between me and a group of gentlemen. I was drunk so I fought and ended up getting jumped. They cut me with a razor from the top of my head to my neck. I nearly lost my life that night. That was my first wake-up call.
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I love my characters. I play them with 100% honesty; there's no holding back. I understand where they are coming from.
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[on how similar he is to his character Omar Little in The Wire (2002)] - I was never a thug. I never even liked to fight.
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Fact
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He has established Making Kids Win, a charitable organization whose primary objective is to build community centres in urban neighborhoods that are in need of safe spaces for children to learn and play.
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He got the part of Omar Little after one audition.
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Williams was featured modelling for GAP's 2014 fall collection.
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He serves as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador to the Campaign for Smart Justice.
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He discovered Felicia Pearson in a Baltimore club, invited her to come to the set of The Wire (2002) one day, introduced her to the writers and the producers, and after subsequent auditions, she was offered the role of Snoop in the series.
In 2013, he starred in MGMT's music video for Cool Song No. 2.
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Williams suffered from an identity crisis during his portrayal of Omar Little, going by his character's name, and developed a habit of smoking cannabis and an addiction to cocaine in 2004.
He got one of his first major acting roles in Bullet (1996) after being discovered by Tupac Shakur.
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During his Sept. 19, 2008 interview with XM radio's Opie & Anthony, he mentions that he is not ashamed of anything he's done as an actor. But, there is footage of him in Hammer pants and a half shirt from his dancing days that makes him cringe.
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His large facial scar is the result of a bar fight he got involved in on his 25th birthday. His assailants sliced him with razor blades.
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Used be a dancer and then a choreographer, doing routines for music videos and tours.