Darnell Williams (born 3 March 1955) is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of

Jesse Hubbard Jesse Hubbard (born September 18, 1975) is a former professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Background Hubbard st ...

on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

soap opera '' All My Children'' from 1981 to 1988, and from 2008 to 2011, a role which has earned him two

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

Personal life

Williams was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In the mid-1970s, he was a regular dancer on TV's '' Soul Train''.

Career

Williams began portraying

on '' All My Children'' in 1981. His character became involved in a love affair with

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

Angie Baxter (

Debbi Morgan Deborah Ann Morgan (born September 20, 1956) is an American film and television actress. She played the role of Angie Baxter–Hubbard on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' for which she was the first African-American to win the Daytime Em ...

). The characters eventually married and thus Darnell Williams was one half of the first African American supercouple on an American soap opera. Williams won two

for his work on ''All My Children'' in the 1980s. During the mid-1980s, both he and Morgan co-hosted a dance show titled "New York Hot Tracks," that also featured music videos. In 1988, Williams left ''All My Children''. However, he returned to soap operas in 1994 as Jack Durban on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other s ...

''; the role lasted until early 1995. Williams then appeared as Jesse Hubbard's look-alike Jacob Foster on '' Loving'' and '' The City''. He later briefly reprised his role of Jesse on ''All My Children'', albeit in angel form, when he welcomed

Gillian Andrassy This is a list of characters appearing (or who have appeared) on the ABC Daytime and TOLN soap opera ''All My Children''. A Carter Anders *Jason Pendergraft (2013) Pine Valley Hospital doctor with an unknown past. Bill Anderson * James Prit ...

(

Esta TerBlanche Esta TerBlanche (born 7 January 1973) is a South African actress, best known for her roles on television soap operas in both South Africa and the United States. Early life TerBlanche was born in Rustenburg, North West Province. She is of Hugue ...

) into Heaven in 2001. Williams had a recurring role as the counsellor on the primetime drama ''Felicity'', and worked as a director and acting coach for ''All My Children''. In May 2007, Williams joined the cast of '' Guiding Light'' in the recurring role of the villainous Griggs, a man who A.C. Mallet was once employed by as a hit-man. He appeared in the play ''Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell'' in New York City through June 2007. In 2008, Williams, along with Gregori J. Martin, co-directed the independent film ''Manhattanites'', starring

Ilene Kristen Ilene Kristen (born Ilene Schatz; July 30, 1952) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Delia Ryan in the ABC soap opera '' Ryan's Hope'' (1975–1979, 1982–1983, 1986–1989) and her Emmy-nominated performances as Roxy ...

Forbes March Forbes March (born May 12, 1973) is a British-born Canadian actor. Although born in Bristol, England, he was raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Biography Forbes March, the son of Dr. Peter March, a former philosophy professor at Saint Mary's Univ ...

, and Aiden Turner, Williams's co-star. Williams returned to ''All My Children'' in January 2008 as a very much alive Jesse Hubbard, along with

, who played Angie Hubbard. He appeared on "Oprah- the Last Season" with cast mates Debbi Morgan and

Michael E. Knight Michael Edward Knight (born May 7, 1959) is an American actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on ABC soap opera '' All My Children''. Biography Knight was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, Cal ...

in 2011. In September 2011, Darnell Williams concluded his run on ''All My Children'' along with the rest of the cast, due to the cancellation of the serial. At the time ''All My Children'' ended, Williams was the oldest contracted male actor cast member with the show and the second oldest contracted actor after

Susan Lucci Susan Victoria Lucci (born December 23, 1946) is an American actress, television host, author and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama ''All My Children'' during that show's entire network run from 1970 ...

. In January 2012, it was confirmed that Williams will be joining the cast of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

daytime drama ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

'', where he will reunite with ''All My Children'' co-star Debbi Morgan.Soap Opera Digest
/ref> Williams returned in the new internet version of ''All My Children'', reprising his role of Jesse Hubbard. The new show premiered on iTunes, Hulu and Hulu Plus on 29 April 2013. Williams's film appearances include '' Sidewalk Stories'', ''

Short Cuts ''Short Cuts'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film, directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver. The film has a Los Angeles setting, whic ...

'', and '' Simone''. Williams did not participate in the ''All My Children'' reunion that was featured on the 2 February 2017 edition of the

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

's ''

Home & Family ''Home & Family'' (formerly ''The Home and Family Show'') is an American daytime talk show. The series originally premiered on April 1, 1996, on The Family Channel, and was dropped by the network immediately prior to its 1998 relaunch as the Fox ...

'' show.''Home & Family''. Hst. Mark Steines and Debbie Matenopoulos. Hallmark Channel. 2 February 2017. Television. However, ''Home & Family'' did utilize footage of Williams as his Jesse Hubbard character from the wedding of

Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American soap opera '' All My Children''. Greg was portrayed by Laurence Lau, and Jenny was portrayed by actress Kim Delaney. They were best friends to fellow su ...

(played by

Laurence Lau Laurence Henry Lau (born May 10, 1954) is an American television and stage actor, best known for his roles in several soap operas. Lau was born in Long Beach, California and raised in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He attended Columbia University and Bri ...

and

Kim Delaney Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1961) is an American actress known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series ''NYPD Blue'', for which she won an Emmy Award. Early in her career, she played the role of Je ...

, respectively) on ''All My Children''.

Awards and nominations

;

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

;

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

;

Soap Opera Digest Awards ''The Soap Opera Digest Awards'', originally known as ''The Soapy Awards'' when introduced in 1977, is an awards show held by the daytime television magazine ''Soap Opera Digest''. History 1977 until 1983 The Soapy Awards were an award presen ...

;

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Darnell 1955 births Living people African-American male actors Black British male actors English male television actors American male television actors American male soap opera actors Daytime Emmy Award winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series winners 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people

Personal life

Career

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links