The Tribune

BAHAMIAN American actor Michael K Williams was found dead in his New York City apartment yesterday.

He was 54 years old.

Williams, best known for his role as Omar Little in the television drama “The Wire”, was born in New York to a Bahamian mother and an African American father.

He also had roles in television shows “Boardwalk Empire” and “Lovecraft Country” and in the movie “12 Years a Slave”.

CNN reported that a law enforcement source said investigators found drug paraphernalia near his body.

An investigation into his death is ongoing, CNN also reported.

In 2017, Williams received a Shining Star Tribute at the Bahamas International Film Festival.

The Emmy nominated actor was also seen in local TV commercials for REV Bahamas.

His representative, Marianna Shafran, released a statement confirming the death saying Williams’ family was grappling with “deep sorrow” at “this insurmountable loss”.

Williams, who had worked in tiny TV roles and as a backup dancer for hip-hop acts before landing the role, had said that reputation started to stick to him in real life.

“The character of Omar thrusted me into the limelight,” he told Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” in 2016. “I had very low self esteem growing up, a high need to be accepted, a corny kid from the projects. So all of a sudden, I’m like, Omar, yo, I’m getting respect from people who probably would have took my lunch money as a kid.”

With smoke from his cigarette often wafting through the darkness, the character would whistle the melody known to American children as “The Farmer in the Dell” and British children as “A Hunting We Will Go” to ominously announce his arrival.

And he spoke many of the show’s most memorable lines, including, “a man gotta have a code” and “all in the game yo, all in the game.”

The character also broke TV ground as an openly gay man whose sexuality wasn’t central to his role.

Williams appeared in all five seasons of “The Wire” from 2002 to 2008, his character growing in prominence with each season.

Instantly recognizable with a distinctive scar that ran the length of his face, Williams said most people who saw him on the street called him “Omar,” but he never really resembled the character.

“I could never be Omar,” he told Colbert with a laugh. “I didn’t have the balls that dude had.”

“I was angry and I had a lot of energy,” he told The Associated Press in 2018. “It was such an outlet. I was not the best dancer, you know, by far, but I was definitely the most passionate. I always had this energy. You always felt me whether I was in sync or not with the other guys.”

Williams had been working with a New Jersey charity to smooth the journey for former prison inmates seeking to reenter society, and was working on a documentary on the subject.

He spoke in an Associated Press story in 2020 of his rough time growing up, and said he had struggled with drug addiction, which he had spoken frankly about in interviews in recent years.

“This Hollywood thing that you see me in, I’m passing through,” he said. “Because I believe this is where my passion, my purpose is supposed to be.”