Jesse Wesley Williams is an American actor, director, producer and activist. He played Dr. Jackson Avery on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2009–22) and has appeared in films such as The Cabin in the Woods (2012) and The Butler (2013). He has provided voice acting and motion capture for Markus in the video game Detroit: Become Human (2018). He served as an executive producer of the Academy Award-winning short, Two Distant Strangers (2020) and the Tony Award-winning revival of Take Me Out (2022), the latter of which he was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Early life
Williams was born in Chicago on August 5, 1981 to Johanna Chase, a professional potter, and Reginald Williams. Jesse Williams has said his mother is a Swedish American and his father is an African American from Georgia. His two younger brothers specialize and work in the field of visual arts. Williams graduated from Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island in 1998. After he graduated from high school his father began teaching history in northern Maine, while his mother continued to work in pottery.
Williams graduated from Temple University with a double major in African American Studies and Film and Media Arts. Following in the...More about Jesse Williams...
