‘The Wire’ actor Michael K. Williams found dead in NYC apartment – Michael K Williams death Cause

Michael K. Williams Cause of Death

On Monday, September 6, 2021, “The Wire’’ actor Michael K. Williams was found dead of a suspected heroin overdose in his Brooklyn penthouse Monday afternoon, law-enforcement sources told The Web.

Williams was discovered unconscious in the dining room of his luxury Williamsburg pad with what appeared to be heroin on the kitchen table, sources said.

His nephew found him around 2 p.m., and the acclaimed TV star was officially pronounced dead at 2:12 p.m., source said — adding that it appeared Williams had fatally OD’d.

“I found the body,” said a weeping man at the scene, talking into his cell phone.

Tears streamed down his face, and the man shook as he sat alone at a table outside the building, barely able to get the words out. 

The city Medical Examiner’s Office was at the building, and eight NYPD cops, including at least two supervisors, were outside.

“No foul play indicated,” a police source said. “No forced entry, the apartment was in order.”

The Flatbush native — currently a 2021 Emmy Award nominee as best supporting actor for “Lovecraft Country” — was famous for his role as Omar Little in the gritty TV series “The Wire’’ and as Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire.’’

Michael K. William was seeking help Against his Drugs Addiction

Michael K Williams had been open about his personal struggles with drugs through the years, including during the filming of “The Wire,” saying that getting so into the role of Little, who robs drug dealers, affected him in real life. 

Williams told NPR in 2016 that he once stumbled into a church in New Jersey desperately seeking help for his addiction.

“When I came through those doors, I was broken. … This was, I would say, around the … third season of ‘The Wire,’ ” Williams said. 

“I was on drugs. … I was in jeopardy of destroying everything I had worked so hard for, and I came in those doors, and I met a man who had never even heard of ‘The Wire,’ much less watched it,” he said, referring to the pastor.

“I wrote my full name down — Michael Kenneth Williams — and in the office, [the pastor] turns around, and he says, ‘So what do you want to be called, man?’  I said, ‘Well, you know, my name is Michael, but I could do Mike.’ He says, ‘Why does everybody say, ‘Omar, Omar’s in trouble?’ ” And I was like, ‘Oh, this dude is clueless [about the show],’ ” Williams said.

Michael K. WILLIAMS Career As an Actor

Prior to his acting career, the Brooklyn-born Williams became a dancer who worked with George Michael and Madonna, among others, before earning bit parts in The Sopranos, Law & Order and R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet. “People misconstrue when I say I was a dancer,” he told The Guardian in 2012.

“I was not classically trained. I was a street dancer, and I got to do what I did in the nightclubs of New York City … I’m a kid from the streets of Brooklyn who got paid to travel the world.”

Michael K. Williams – 2012

While auditioning for various roles around New York, Tupac Shakur saw a Polaroid picture of Williams and helped cast him in his first film role as High Top in Julien Temple’s 1996 crime drama Bullet.

 “He was like, ‘Yo, go find this dude, he looks thugged out enough to play my little brother,” Williams told People of Shakur. (A prominent scar received during a brawl in Queens, NY on his 25th birthday helped Williams earn his menacing, on-screen reputation.)

But Williams rose to fame for his portrayal of Omar Little, the confident, shotgun-wielding character in The Wire who robbed drug dealers in his trademark duster and became one of the show’s standout stars. (Barack Obama famously called Little his favorite character on the show.) Despite his role initially only written for one season, he appeared in all five seasons of the celebrated show from 2002-2008.

“I’d been concerned about how my community were willing to receive me playing such an openly gay character,” Williams told The Guardian. “It works because Omar doesn’t apologize for who he is; he doesn’t try to hide it. He’s a standard dude with morals and a code … That’s all we want to be around: real people. We may not agree with each other’s lifestyles, but if a person is upfront about who they are, they gain respect.”

In 2010, he began his stint as Chalky White, one of the head gangsters in the HBO hit Boardwalk Empire.

He most recently appeared in the acclaimed horror series Lovecraft County as Montrose Freeman, the father to Jonathan Majors’ Atticus Freeman, for which he earned an Emmy nomination. Williams would earn four Emmy noms total, including his portrayal of Bessie Smith’s husband in the 2015 TV movie Bessie.

This story is developing. We will update the article once we get more confirmed reports regarding Michael K Williams’ cause of death, about his obituary and the funeral ceremony.