Michael Kenneth Williams was an American actor. He played Omar Little on the HBO drama series The Wire and Albert "Chalky" White on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. He was also acclaimed for his role as Jack Gee, husband of Bessie Smith, in the HBO telefilm biopic Bessie. He acted in supporting roles in a number of films and television series, including The Road, Inherent Vice, The Night Of, Gone Baby Gone, 12 Years a Slave, When We Rise, When They See Us, and Hap and Leonard.

Williams received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations: three for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, one for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series , and one for Outstanding Informational Series or Special.

Williams was born in Brooklyn, the son of a Bahamian mother from Nassau and Booker T. Williams, an American, from Greeleyville, South Carolina, where his African-American family has deep roots. Williams was raised in the Vanderveer Projects in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. According to a DNA analysis, he is descended partly from the Mende people of Sierra Leone.

After getting in some trouble as a youth, he enrolled at the National Black Theatre in New York City.

Williams worked for Pfizer pharmaceuticals as a temp. However, inspired by Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, he left school and quit his job, against the wishes of his family, to pursue a career as a dancer. During a year in which he was intermittently homeless, Williams visited record labels and dance studios looking for work. He got a job as a background dancer on a music tour for Kym Sims' dance anthem Too Blind To See It, which led to more work appearing as a dancer in videos and on tours, such as with George Michael, Madonna, as well as some modelling work. He also choreographed Crystal Waters' 1994 single "100% Pure Love".

He was given one of his first acting roles after being discovered by Tupac Shakur and was cast as High Top, the brother and henchman to Shakur's drug kingpin Tank, in the 1996 film Bullet.

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