Tylor James Williams (Courtesy)Actor Tyler James Williams is coming to Fayetteville next week.
Williams, known for his work in film and on television as star of the hit show Abbott Elementary, Everyone Hates Chris, and other projects, will speak in a moderated Q&A at Fayetteville Town Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 27 as part of the UA’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
From his bio:
Tyler James Williams is the 2023 Golden Globe Winner for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, Comedy or Drama for his role of ‘Gregory Eddie’ in the hit award-winning series Abbott Elementary.
After hitting it off with Quinta Brunson on A Black Lady Sketch Show, she specifically wrote the Abbott Elementary substitute teacher character with Williams in mind. He will next be seen recurring in the sketch comedy History of the World: Part II, which premiered on Hulu in March.
On the feature film side, Tyler can be seen in the critically acclaimed film The United States Vs. Billie Holiday (2021), playing Lester ‘The Prez’ Young, alongside Andra Day, who received an Oscar nomination for her turn as Billie Holiday. Previously, Williams co-starred in the indie comedy The Argument directed by Robert Schwartzman and starred in The Wedding Year(2019) opposite Sarah Hyland. He played a pivotal part in Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit (2017) alongside Will Poulter. Williams also had a starring role in the Sundance winning feature Dear White People (2014). In addition, he appeared opposite Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington in Peepeles (2013) for Lionsgate and in Paul Feig’s Unaccompanied Minors (2006) for Warner Bros.
On the television side, Tyler starred in ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier opposite Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan. He also starred in CBS’ Criminal Minds. He had a recurring role on HBO and Peter Berg’s Ballers, and before that in season 5 of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Perhaps most notably, Williams was discovered at the age of five for Chris Rock’s Everyone Hates Chris, which he starred in for four seasons.
Distinguished Lecture Series events are ticketed, and UA students, faculty, and staff will have the first chance to reserve a free ticket. Reservations will be available to those individuals starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19.
After that, if any tickets remain, they will be made available to the public at 9 a.m. on Friday, April 21. Ticket reservations will be available at osa.uark.edu.
Past Distinguished Lecture Series speakers include Tan France, Ezra Klein, Tarana Burke, Laura Bush, Laverne Cox, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shirin Ebadi, W. Kamau Bell, Scott and Mark Kelly Abby Wambach, Maya Angelou, Condoleezza Rice, John Legend, Venus Williams, and others.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event begins at 7 p.m. For those who can’t attend but would like to watch Williams’ appearance, a livestream of the event will be available at UA Productions YouTube channel.
For more information, contact Distinguished Lectures Committee Chair Maggie Martin at [email protected].
