Tyler James Williams revealed he had to fight to keep his acting career alive as he transitioned from child to adult actor.
In his conversation with Anthony Mackie for Variety, Williams reflected on his journey to becoming a professional adult actor after starring as the lead role of a young Chris Rock in the hit show Everybody Hates Chris. According to Williams, he felt stable once he starred in the 2017 film Detroit, a whole eight years after Everybody Hates Chris wrapped up its final season.
“I had to fight for my career to survive, and I feel like if that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have gone as hard as I did,” he said. “I was fighting for staying power — fighting to say that I wasn’t just a cute kid who could land a joke every now and then.”
He added, “ I didn’t really start to feel stable in it until we did ‘Detroit.’ Everyone has that period when you have a role here and there to ‘No, I’m going to consistently work with great people.’”
Williams added that voice-over work helped him make the transition, as he was still able to find work, as puberty hit and his body was rapidly changing.
“My voice dropped, and it scared production. My voice was deeper than Chris Rock’s voice-over, and it didn’t make sense anymore,” he said. “I was trying to make that transition from child actor to adult, and the voice-over space allowed me to do that because I sounded older than I was until I was able to have my body and face catch up.”
Williams became eye candy with fans who tune into Quinta Brunson’s Abbot Elementary, where he stars as first-grade teacher Gregory Eddie. Williams admitted that at some point, one must realize in order to make that transition into a professional adult actor they need to be “sexy.”
“Part of the transition of getting the industry to see you as an adult is that you gotta become sexy at some point,” said Williams.
In a visual clip accompanying the article, Mackie cracked a joke on Williams about him being a weird-looking kid who turned into a handsome man. However, Williams flipped the script while adding that leaving the child actor spotlight behind and being acknowledged as an actual actor has been a journey.
“You was a weird-looking kid, and you grew up to be, like, a good-looking dude,” Mackie said during the interview. Williams replied, “I want to say we were all weird-looking kids; see, mine was just documented extensively, but yeah, to be able to go from there to here has been a journey."
