Billy 'Sly' Williams

Billy Sly Williams entered the acting profession in his native New York landing his first major role as a guest star on "The Cosby Show". He first studied with William Hickey, and Earl Hyman at Uta Hagen's HB Studios before joining the New Federal Theater, founded by Woody King, Jr. Williams continued his studies with Ron Stetson, diving into the challenging Sanford Meisner technique. He finished his Meisner studies in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Janet Alhanti.

Williams started his career with an efficacious momentum and has had several guest star appearances on hit series such as "Family Matters", "Charles In Charge", "Doogie Howser, M.D.", "Beverly Hills, 90210", "Jag", "Martin", "NYPD Blue", "The Practice, "Living Single", "Moesha", "Walker, Texas Ranger", "The Steve Harvey Show", "Judging Amy", "Wanda at Large", "Dollhouse", "The Cleaner", and "Love That Girl", just to name a few. He also has a long, continuously growing, laundry list of commercial appearances. Williams really enjoys commercials because he relishes the challenge to create a beginning, middle, and end for such a short segment of 15- 30 seconds. Flip on your television and you are bound to see Williams gracing your screen.

He made the jump to feature films with a role in "Predator 2" and booked several other studio films thereafter. Williams then landed an independent film in India, this was his first time abroad and a very momentous experience. During filming, he met writer, producer, and director Stephen David Brooks. This was Williams's first project with Brooks, but definitely not his last. Brooks introduced Williams to the independent film world and changed Williams's whole outlook on independent filmmaking. Williams valued Brooks' stylized way of filmmaking. Soon after, Williams landed the lead role in Brook's multi award winning film "Heads N' Tailz". Billy was very instrumental in getting Stephen David Brooks' feature film debut, "Heads N' Tailz" off the ground. The two valued working together so much that they then went on to produce other projects together. Their most recent project slated to release in 2013 is a short film named "Binky", anticipated to be submitted to several film festivals.

Williams's presence in the independent filmmaking realm continued to flourish. While touring on the road with Martin Lawrence, Williams's representation urged him to go back to Los Angeles to audition for an up and coming independent writer, producer, and director Paul D. Hannah. Despite Williams's feelings to temporarily leave his obligations, he was convinced to take a small break to go in and meet a completion of a team of people that he would continue to work with. Paul D. Hannah, became another influential person that continues to inspire Williams, in fact, Williams has worked in and on 5 projects with Hannah in the past two years including: "The Marriage Chronicles", "The Last Letter", "The Cheater's Club", "My Sister's Wedding", and "4 Play".

To date, Williams has been in over 30 feature films. Although Williams ventured to the big screen he has not abandoned the small screen, his most recent appearance is on the hit series "Californication". You can also currently see him in a plethora of commercials, television series, feature films, and behind the scenes producing. Billy Sly Williams is very thankful to God for all of his blessings, in his spare time he pays it forward by coaching aspiring and established actors.