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Gregory Alan Williams

"Willy James"

February 2023 marks the completion of GregAlan’s fourth feature film REUNION. Written, produced, and directed by the Iowa native, Reunion is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller starring Xamon Glasper (Being Mary Jane, Queen Rising) and T. Denise Johnson (Platinum, 5th Ward). Williams also co-stars as a fast-talking, scripture-touting father who ultimately threatens his loving family’s very existence.


The most recent addition to Emmy Award winner Gregory Alan Williams’ broad list of acting credits is his current series regular role on the HBO comedy, The Righteous Gemstones (Danny McBride, John Goodman). GregAlan also received rave reviews for his co-starring role as Robert “Mac” McCready on the groundbreaking OWN network series Greenleaf (Lynn Whitfield, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey). To date, Williams has appeared in more than 180 movies and television shows.


2021 marked the release of the movie Birdie (PURE FLIX), which Mr. Williams directed. He also co-stars in the film opposite Victoria Rowell (Young and the Restless). Birdie is a moving tale about family, healing, and forgiveness-- the story of a broken young man’s struggle to become a loving father. Most recently, GregAlan has directed two more feature films, the romantic comedies My Perfect Wedding (BETher) starring Omar Gooding/Erica Hubbard and Christmas Holidate (ALLBLK) starring Jasmine Burke (Saints and Sinners).


And, of course, there is also Williams’ seven seasons as beach cop Garner Ellerbee on the most watched television show in the world, Baywatch—work, which is also accompanied by strong supporting, recurring, and guest star roles in critically acclaimed projects such as The Sopranos, The West Wing, and Remember The Titans.


In the summer of 2015, Williams won Best Actor honors at the Christian International Film Festival for his work in the inspirational short film Roses as well as a second regional Emmy Award for his narration of the Vietnam War documentary Iowans Remember Vietnam.


Williams’ career also features stage work with Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson, Chicago Shakespeare Repertory Theater, Chicago Theater Company, Mixed Blood Theater (Mpls), and Chicago’s Goodman Theater. He is also a founding member of the world-renowned Penumbra Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota.


Author of two critically acclaimed books, dozens of essays, and two award-winning public television specials, GregAlan was heralded nationally as hero and Good Samaritan for his rescue of a brutally beaten motorist at the intersection of Florence and Normandy - epicenter of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Williams responded to these accolades with his book, A Gathering of Heroes, which was hailed as "...a moving illumination on the meaning of brotherhood." (Kirkus Review). The author’s deep and revealing conversation about male values, Boys To Men - Maps for the Journey (Doubleday/Bantam/Dell) was proclaimed, "a powerful parenting resource" for African-American mothers bringing sons to manhood.


Williams' eye-opening published essay, For Black, Brown, and Beige, Baby Girls, (inspired by his Baywatch years) affirms the beauty of women of color and the self-worth of every woman living in the age of cosmetic, ultra-thin, and eternally youthful, media images.


His debut novel Heart of a Woman (Lantern Audiobooks) is available at Audible.com.

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