‘The Wire’ actor Michael K Williams dies at 54

Michael K Williams, who played Omar Little on ‘The Wire’ and Chalky White on ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ has died at the age of 54. The New York Police Department confirmed to Variety that the actor was discovered dead inside his Brooklyn home on Monday at 2 pm.

Williams was a regular on many critically praised HBO programmes, including ‘The Wire,’ ‘Boardwalk Empire,’ ‘The Night Of,’ and ‘Lovecraft Country,’ as well as Leonard on the SundanceTV crime thriller ‘Hap and Leonard’ and a recurrent part on J J Abrams’ ‘Alias.’ He also appeared in critically acclaimed films such as ‘Inherent Vice,’ ‘12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Gone Baby Gone,’ and ‘The Road.’

The actor’s often attracted awards attention, including three Emmy awards  including three Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or film for his role in ‘When They See Us,’ ‘The Night Of,’ and ‘Bessie.’ For his work in ‘Lovecraft Country,’ he is now nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

He was also known for his comedy roles, including biology professor Marshall Kane on ‘Community.’ Though he shot a small role in ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story,’ his role was cut after reshoots would have required he cut short filming on the Netflix feature ‘The Red Sea Diving Resort.’

Williams landed his career-making role in 2002 as Omar Little in ‘The Wire,’ David Simon’s critically-acclaimed crime series. One of the series’ most memorable characters, Omar Little was a sawed-off shotgun-toting Baltimore stickup man. “Omar is this dark-skinned outspoken man in the hood who didn’t care what anyone thought of him,” Williams told the New York Times in 2017. “He is everything I wished I could be.”