JESSE Williams is best known for his role as one of Grey's Anatomy's favorite characters, Dr. Jackson Avery.
But now, the actor, director, activist, and former teacher is trading in the hospital lights of Grey-Sloan for the gritty glamor of Broadway.
Who is Jesse Williams?
Jesse Williams is an Oscar-winning producer behind the Netflix short film about race, Two Distant Strangers.
Williams didn't always have his sights set on being an actor.
He graduated from Temple University with degrees in African American Studies and Film and Media Arts.
He did a little bit of modeling but didn't really feel like it was his thing.
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His next six years were spent teaching high school in Philadelphia.
That's when he decided to either attend law school to solidify his presence in activism, or to go to film school.
In a 2022 New York Times interview, Williams describes the choice to instead reach out to his former commercial agent as his "quarter-life crisis."
It worked though, and after an episode of Law and Order, and a stint on the show Greek, he landed a role on already-booming Grey's Anatomy in 2009.
He was cast as a surgical intern and quickly rose through the ranks of most-beloved characters on the show.
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He spent the next 12 years as Dr. Jackson Avery, a plastic surgeon, and ENT, whose life in many ways mirrored Williams' own.
For example, Dr. Avery's character is naturally brilliant, and landed a job that suits his talents.
The same could be said for Williams' career.
Dr. Avery is a multi-racial man living in the United States, as is Williams, which he recognizes brings him both privilege and also its own shade of racism.
Finally, Dr. Avery begins to notice racial discrimination and decides to do something about it.
Who does Jesse Williams play on Grey's Anatomy?
Dr. Avery is the grandson of Dr. Harper Avery, the namesake of an award for innovation in surgery.
His mother, Catherine, is also the head of the Harper Avery Foundation, which eventually takes over the hospital, saving it from bankruptcy.
Family drama, classism, racism, parenthood, and loss are central themes of Dr. Avery's twelve years on the show.
Dr. Avery begins his tenure as a plastic surgeon under the chief of plastic surgery, Dr. Mark Sloan.
Under Dr. Sloan, he works hard to prove himself and distinguish himself from his grandfather's legacy as a world-renowned surgeon.
Dr. Avery also has an aversion to discussing his family's wealth, but he eventually evolves away from caring so much about what others think of him.
Instead, he evolves into a caring doctor focusing on inequities in health care, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is featured in his last season.
The way in which Dr. Avery's character is written off seems true to the actor who plays him.
Dr. Avery decides it's time for him to take over the family foundation, to channel funds toward racial inequalities in medicine on a national scale instead of just in Seattle.
This is a massive sacrifice for Dr. Avery, as it requires a cross-country move for him and his family, and for him to stop operating.
Why did Jesse Williams agree to leave Grey's anatomy?
In his 2022 New York Times profile, Williams said that he left because he said his work on Grey's had begun to feel “increasingly safe, protected, insulated."
That, and a Broadway director had offered him a role in the Tony-award-winning musical Take Me Out.
Williams said, "I knew that as I designed my exit, the next thing I did had to be terrifying. I needed to get out of my comfort zone, I needed to go into a very unknown place."
That's exactly what Williams seems to have found in Take Me Out.
He leads the cast as a bi-racial, gay baseball player set in the mid-1990s, who decides to come out.
"It’s a play about race, class, sexuality, sport, and living a life in the public eye," the profile reads.
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"The role is also a way for Williams to explore some of his own contradictions."
"Like what it means to be a deep thinker admired for his body, to be a Black celebrity in majority white spaces, to live both public life and a private one."
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