Tyler James Williams Photograph Courtesy of Prada Tyler James Williams is one of those rare entertainers who achieved success as a child actor and successfully transitioned into an adult star with a career of equally notable acclaim. An actor since the age of 4, Williams' longevity on the silver screen began with Sesame Street, on which he starred from 2000 to 2005, after which he landed his breakout role - and an NAACP Image Award for outstanding actor in a comedy series - playing the titular character in Chris Rock's semi-autobiographical sitcom Everybody Hates Chris from 2005 to 2009. A stretch of recurring and main roles followed on series such as The Walking Dead and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, as Williams also dipped his toes into film, starring in Justin Simien's Dear White People in 2014, Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit in 2017 and Lee Daniels' The United States vs. Billie Holiday in 2021. Related Stories TV 'Dancing With the Stars' Celebrates 20 Years With Perfect Scores, Tom Bergeron and Another Elimination: See the Scores, Who Went Home TV Cleto Escobedo III, 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Bandleader, Dies at 59 It was in 2021 that Williams also began starring in his second career-defining TV role as Gregory on Quinta Brunson's hit ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary. His portrayal of the anal West Philadelphia public school teacher earned him three Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe Award. Below, Williams talks with The Hollywood Reporter about growing up in a family of entertainers - his younger brothers Tyrel Jackson Williams and Tylen Jacob Williams are also actors - the trauma of being a child star, bringing dimension to the portrayals of men onscreen and why he'll need a break from TV after Abbott. Congrats on season five. You've now starred on more seasons of Abbott Elementary than Everybody Hates Chris. Did you think the show would have the longevity that it's had when you signed on? For sure. I think there's a certain alchemy to making a long-running show, and Quinta had a really clean idea, and I love a clean idea. A workplace comedy in the school, that's something that can run for episodes and episodes and episodes. So I knew that it had the potential to, and then when we shot the pilot, I knew that we had the right players to do so - not to sound cocky by any means. The fandom around Abbott continues to be particularly strong, especially on social media. Do you follow the convos on X after each episode? No. No. God no. I don't even have that application on my phone. I try to stay as far away from any of the conversations about any of the art that I make as possible. It's my job to make it. I don't need to micromanage how it's perceived. When the opportunity for Abbott first came along, where were you professionally? Were you looking to do another TV series where you had a main role? Were you interested in more film? I remember after I finished Chris, I specifically said, "I don't want to do another network TV show for a very long time" because, as grateful as I am and as great as Abbott is, it still shoots eight months out of the year. There's a certain amount of fatigue that comes with that, and it's more physical than anything. That was the reason why if I was going to come back to something on network TV, it was going to be something that was really good with people that I really liked to work with. It checked all my boxes, and it was a story worth telling. To me, that was worth the four, five, six, seven-year fatigue that comes with it, especially doing the grind of a 22-episode show. Once Abbott is done, I'm going to be in the exact same place again. I'm not going to want to jump right into another network show. Tyler James Williams and Quinta Brunson in 'Abbott Elementary.' Disney/Gilles Mingasson What was it specifically about Gregory that attracted you, and are you like him in any way? It was the way that Quinta saw him. Quinta saw Gregory in a way that I see a lot of the men in my life and a lot of men in general. As flawed as they may be, they're just trying to do right, and they're not always given the tools to make the right decisions, but they're trying. For that reason, I think I've grown to be more like him. And I think that's kind of a symptom of doing a show for a very long time. You spend eight months out of the year in this person's skin. At some point, the line gets blurry, and that's also part of why you need a break after the fact. Earlier on, there was a bigger chasm between Gregory and myself, and over time we've bled into each other, which is really beautiful. But I think at some point I'm going to have to detach from him and that's going to be hard. Has the lens people see you through now as a result of playing Gregory impacted other roles and opportunities you're offered? Yeah, it's layers and complexity that people are seeing. I think one of the better examples that we're seeing of that right now is Teyana Taylor. You see somebody do one thing and that's how you're introdu