J. D. Williams
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J.D. Williams (born May 22, 1978) is an American actor known for his starring roles in the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
television programs '' Oz'' as
Kenny Wangler Kenny "Bricks" Wangler is a fictional character in the HBO drama '' Oz'', played by actor J. D. Williams. Character overview "Prisoner #97W566. Convicted July 6, 1997 - murder in the first degree (16 years old tried as an adult). Sentence: 20 yea ...
, ''
The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' as
Bodie Broadus Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a rough, low-level drug dealer, but matures throughout the series and slowly rises through the ranks. Bodie ...
and ''
Pootie Tang ''Pootie Tang'' is a 2001 American comedy film written and directed by Louis C.K. Adapted from a comedy sketch that first appeared on ''The Chris Rock Show'', the character Pootie Tang is a satire of the stereotyped action heroes who appeared in ...
'' as Froggy, ''
Surviving Family ''Surviving Family'' is a 2012 American drama about the effects of mental illness and alcoholism on the fictional Malone family. It was directed by Laura Thies and written by Mara Lesemann. The film stars Billy Magnussen, Sarah Wilson, Tara We ...
'' (2012) as Bobby, ''
The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...
'' (2010-2015) as Dexter, and in the main cast of '' Saints & Sinners''. He also starred in ''
Blood Brother Blood brother can refer to two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, hand or ...
'' (2018) as Kayvon.


Early life

Williams was born in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Newark Arts High School Newark Arts High School is a four-year magnet public high school, serving students in Ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. The school is located in t ...
, a performing arts public school in Newark. He portrayed a biracial 15-year-old dealing with
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
and his father's
infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and riva ...
in the play ''A.M. Sunday'' in late 2003 at Baltimore's Centerstage theater. He had a number of cameos and leading roles in R&B and hip-hop music videos between 2002 and 2005.


Career

Williams appeared in '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', a show based on a book by ''
The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' creator
David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on ''The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for ''The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' Hom ...
, where he guest-starred as Casper in the episode "The Why Chromosome". He had a small guest starring role in ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...
'' episode "
46 Long "46 Long" is the second episode of the HBO original series ''The Sopranos''. It was written by David Chase, directed by Dan Attias and was originally broadcast on January 17, 1999, in the United States. Starring * James Gandolfini as Tony Sopran ...
" as
Special K Special K is an American brand of breakfast cereal and meal bars manufactured by Kellogg's. The cereal was introduced to the United States in 1955. It is made primarily from grains such as lightly toasted rice, wheat and barley. Special K used ...
, an incompetent stickup man and one of
Brendan Filone The Soprano family (originally the DiMeo family) is a fictional Italian-American crime family featured in the HBO series ''The Sopranos'' and the prequel film ''The Many Saints of Newark''. Based in New Jersey, the family consists of an administr ...
's goons. He went on to play series regular, inmate
Kenny Wangler Kenny "Bricks" Wangler is a fictional character in the HBO drama '' Oz'', played by actor J. D. Williams. Character overview "Prisoner #97W566. Convicted July 6, 1997 - murder in the first degree (16 years old tried as an adult). Sentence: 20 yea ...
, in the first four seasons of ''Oz''. He then appeared in HBOs ''
The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' as
Bodie Broadus Preston "Bodie" Broadus is a fictional character on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', played by actor J. D. Williams. Bodie is initially a rough, low-level drug dealer, but matures throughout the series and slowly rises through the ranks. Bodie ...
, a
Barksdale Organization The Barksdale Organization is a fictional drug-dealing gang on the television series ''The Wire''. Many of the characters featured in season one of ''The Wire'' belong to this organization. Season 1 largely deals with the Baltimore Police Depa ...
drug dealer who slowly rises through the ranks throughout the seasons. In preparation for the role, he walked around
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
's inner city during the middle of the night a few days before the first taping; talking about this to
AllHipHop AllHipHop is a hip hop news website founded by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur in 1998. History The website was founded in 1998 by Greg Watkins and Chuck Creekmur. In 1997, Watkins registered the allhiphop.com domain to promote the artists on ...
, Williams stated "it was like 12 or 1:00 in the morning. I just threw on a black hoodie and walked around. I went to one of their hoods and watched that night. I learned not to do that no more, I was lucky I made it back that night." He is older than his character by 8 years. According to his original HBO bio, he is credited with appearing in the film ''Graffiti Bridge'', but a 2003 interview with AllHipHop revealed that Williams was not in the movie. The page no longer exists, however.
Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American singer and songwriter. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. Re ...
filled the cameo role with which Williams was credited. Williams has had leading roles or cameo appearances in a number of R&B and hip-hop
music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s. He has appeared as himself, a love interest, and characters resembling his role as a
drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by ...
on ''The Wire''. In 2012, Williams had a major supporting role in the indie film ''
Surviving Family ''Surviving Family'' is a 2012 American drama about the effects of mental illness and alcoholism on the fictional Malone family. It was directed by Laura Thies and written by Mara Lesemann. The film stars Billy Magnussen, Sarah Wilson, Tara We ...
'' as the ex-boyfriend of the main character. His character was a wounded veteran of the war in Iraq who had lost an eye in an IED attack and suffered from PTSD. He has starred in a number of commercials, and played a delivery man in a
FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
commercial. He appeared as Lemond Bishop's Lieutenant "Dexter" in episodes of ''
The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...
''.


Filmography


Film/Movie


Television


Video games


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, J. D. Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Newark, New Jersey Newark Arts High School alumni 1978 births 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people