Tyler James Williams on His Starry Childhood, from Patti LaBelle-Backing Parents to Trashing Studios (original) (raw)

Tyler James Williams is reflecting on his whirlwind childhood in Hollywood.

The Abbott Elementary star — who rose to fame thanks to his starring role on Everybody Hates Chris from 2005 to 2009 — spoke about some highlights from his time growing up famous while on the Jennifer Hudson Show Wednesday.

Williams, now 30, first told host Jennifer Hudson he got into a bit of mischief during his time filming his breakout role, specifically when he and his young cast mates trashed other sets at Paramount Studios.

"Me and my other kid cast members would go and trash other sets and run away," Williams reflected, noting that he was 12 or 13 at the time.

"When I think about it now, it's horrible. We'd shake up soda cans, pop them, release them, and then take off running. Whoever the set [decorator] was, I'm so sorry," he added.

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Williams also spoke to Hudson, 41, about some highlights of his childhood, specifically coming from a musical family.

Detailing that his parents sang background for a few music legends — including Patti LaBelle and Luther Vandross — Williams said, "It's crazy how talent kind of moves through families, and I was one of the ones. My brothers still do music now."

When Hudson asked him if he himself sings, Williams was quick to respond: "I can hold a note, but ... when you have a family of singers who can flat-footed blow, can you sing is a touchy question."

"Compared to them, no I cannot," he then joked.

As for memories of some of the icons his family sang with, Williams said there are a few mementos situated around his house.

"My baby brother was like 18 months maybe, and there's a photo of [Vandross] holding him and he's screaming. My brother's screaming by the way as if he's being tortured, not knowing he's in an iconic photo," Williams teased.

Tyler James Williams and Jennifer Hudson. Chris Millard/Warner Bros.

As for his own musical run-ins, the Golden Globe winner reflected on presenting an award to Beyoncé at the 40th NAACP Image Awards in 2009, which Hudson pulled up a picture of for viewers to see.

"The inside of my mind for sure said, 'I'm gonna hug Beyoncé.' And that's what it was. Yeah, it was a lot of that. I knew she was gonna win because I knew she was nominated. And I checked beforehand, I was like, 'Who is this.' It was Beyoncé so I was hype," Williams said.

The star recently took home a trophy of his own this year — becoming a Golden Globe winner after earning the award for best supporting actor in a musical, comedy or drama award for his role in Abbott.

Williams plays substitute teacher Gregory Eddie at an inner-city Philadelphia public school in the ABC sitcom written by and starring Quinta Brunson, whom he first worked with on HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Upon accepting his first Golden Globe, the actor began his speech by thanking his Abbott costars and crew, saying, "I love y'all. It's an honor to work with you everyday," before shouting out Brunson, 33.

Discussing his character in the show, Williams continued, "I pray that this is a win for Gregory Eddie and for his story and for stories like this that we may understand but his story just as important as all of the other stories that have to be told out here. Thank you so much for this."

Williams beat out John Lithgow (The Old Man), Jonathan Pryce (The Crown), John Turturro (Severance) and Henry Winkler (Barry) for the award.