The ‘Abbott Elementary’ star shared that he knows what he’s “capable of now” after his early experiences
Credit: Paramount Television/Kobal/Shutterstock; Juan Veloz
NEED TO KNOW
- Tyler James Williams knows what he’s “capable of now”
- The Abbott Elementary star reflected on his experiences as a child actor in a cover story for Haute Living
- “But on the other side of that, if you do the work, the strength it gives you is incredible,” Williams said
Tyler James Williams is detailing the “strength” he learned as a result of his time as a child actor.
The Abbott Elementary star, 33, shared in a cover story for Haute Living how his past as a child actor had an impact on him and his belief in himself.
“When you’re a child, you assume adults know what they’re talking about. As you get older, hopefully you find yourself,” said Williams, who starred in Everybody Hates Chris from 2005 to 2009. “For me, it was being really intentional — and being able to retire that idea of myself that was just kind of following the decisions of the people who were helping to guide and shape my career.”
Credit: Juan Veloz
Williams, whose earlier work also included appearances on Sesame Street and a starring role in Disney’s Let It Shine, added that there was a “whole period” in his life where he “had to work through the hypervigilance and anxiety that built up in my body.”
“But on the other side of that, if you do the work, the strength it gives you is incredible,” Williams said.
“I know what I’m capable of now. I’ve had situations when I was 13 or 14 where there was no other choice, and you figured it out,” he added. “My belief in myself has a level of security that I think people don’t reach until much later in life, because I’ve already proven myself right about those things before.”
Credit: Juan Veloz
Since his early years in the industry, Williams has found further success on Abbott, which he’s starred in as Gregory Eddie since 2021. Ahead of the show’s forthcoming sixth season, Williams detailed what the dynamic on set is like in five years.
“We all fall into rhythm immediately,” he told Haute Living. “You hear the show, and you go, oh, there we are again. Even though we couldn’t fully gel together [on the first table read] because it was COVID — it’s not like we were hanging out — there were certain scenes that just felt too good, too fast. It’s kind of been like that from the beginning.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Williams previously spoke with PEOPLE in February 2025 about putting on his directing hat for the ABC sitcom. While he called the task “difficult,” he admitted he’d “rather work with kids and adults a lot of the time.”
“Kids, as long as you learn how to speak their language, they want to do a good job,” he said of the classroom comedy. “They want to work, their egos are not involved. They just kind of show up and they do their thing. It was really great.”
Season 6 of Abbott Elementary arrives Wednesday, Oct. 7 on ABC.
Read the full article here