Tyler James Williams will be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
The trajectory of Williams’ career as an actor, which began when he was 4 years old, has reached new heights due to his role as Gregory Eddie on the ABC hit sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” created by Quinta Brunson.
Williams’ character centers a first-grade teacher in an underfunded, public school in Philadelphia, PA. According to NPR, he worked closely with Brunson to workshop the character.
“I think from the minute we got on the phone about it, Gregory became a collaborative effort,” he explained to the outlet. “We very quickly had a conversation about the importance of showing an active Black male struggling with and attempting to do a really good job in raising the next generation, because those are the men I grew up with, and those are the men that she grew up with.”
Williams later added, “I love that his story isn’t rooted in some sense of trauma or some massive conflict that is very specific to his race. … He’s a guy with a job who’s just trying to do a good job, who happens to be Black at a Black school with Black kids. I know that I’ve longed for stories that were rooted in an everyday conflict.”
The portrayal of Gregory and the overall success of Abbott Elementary, which is heading into its fourth season, has led him to earn major recognitions. In 2023, he won Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for “Abbott Elementary” at the Golden Globe Awards.
“I truly, truly appreciate this and I pray that this is a win for Gregory Eddie… and for his story and for stories like his, that we may understand that his story is just as important as all of the other stories that have to be told out here. Thank you so much for this,” he expressed at the award show held in January at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA.
Another award includes the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, which was shared by his castmates Brunson (Janine Teagues); Sheryl Lee Ralph (Barbara Howard); Janelle James (Ava Coleman); Lisa Ann Walter (Melissa Schemmenti); Chris Perfetti (Jacob Hill); and William Stanford Davis (Mr. Johnson).
Williams also received Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series that year at the 54th NAACP Image Awards.
What’s more, on top of his recognitions, Williams and the rest of the cast are set to receive a substantial pay raise, according to Deadline. He is expected to earn $250,000 per episode, and the outlet notes “the percentage salary increases are said to be in the triple digits, doubling and sometimes tripling the actors’ previous paychecks.”
