Abbott Elementary star Tyler James Williams knows what he’s doing. To call the 29-year-old actor an industry veteran may at first seem premature — until you start doing the math. Tyler’s filmography is over two decades long, and frankly, inescapable. If you’ve ever turned on a television any time between 1999 and now, Tyler has probably commanded your screen and your attention.
He’s done drama (Dear White People, The United States vs. Billie Holiday), he’s done genre (The Walking Dead), he’s done romance (The Wedding Year), and he’s done and doing comedy. His current role as first-grade teacher Gregory Eddie on the ABC mockumentary sitcom Abbott Elementary earned him his first Emmy nomination.
Three days after the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards, Tyler tells Teen Vogue he’s “the best version of exhausted you can possibly think of.” After an incredible first season run, Abbott was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and more than half of its main cast received nods for their performances. Abbott ultimately won three prizes, with actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and show creator Quinta Brunson taking home their first Emmys.
Sheryl Lee Ralph’s instantly iconic and soul-stirring acceptance speech brought many viewers to tears, and according to Tyler, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, either. After the ceremony, Tyler posted a photo of himself escorting Ralph to the Emmys stage on Instagram, including a moving caption about honoring his legends. In the shot, she and Tyler are hand in hand.
“As a Black man, I'm constantly in conversation with my ancestors,” Tyler says over Zoom. “I'm very acutely aware that so much of what I am and am doing today is because of the sacrifices that were made [by] them… To have the ability to not only be there for the moment where [Ralph’s] dreams and everything she worked for were fulfilled, but to also assist in that, it honestly does more for me than winning ever could.”
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This sentiment is echoed in the joy Tyler has said he’s found in being a supporting actor, as opposed to the leading man he’s been since his tween years. Tyler considers himself a “purpose guy,” an actor who seeks fulfillment first, fame last. As an adult actor empowered by choice, his career priorities had shifted. But just because he knows his way around the Hollywood machine doesn’t mean he isn’t susceptible to it.
During the winter of 2019, after wrapping The United States vs. Billie Holiday, he could feel himself on the brink of burnout. The actor talks about many parts of his life as though they belong to a fever dream, blurred and intense. Coming out of the pandemic lockdown, Tyler knew the next phase of his career would prioritize pleasure and play; like the rest of the world, Tyler wanted to have fun again.
“Right as I was putting that energy out into the universe, Quinta DMs me and is like, ‘Hey, I have this idea for this thing that I think we could do,’” says Tyler. He and Quinta had previously worked together on HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show. “The first thing that came to me was like, ‘Yeah, she's fun. This could be fun.’”
Abbott Elementary was a welcome surprise on a universal level. The sitcom was immediately met with critical acclaim upon its midseason premiere in December 2021 and has been praised for breathing new life into network television. The show follows an eccentric yet devoted set of teachers working to make ends meet in a predominantly Black public school in Philadelphia. Through workplace humor, Abbott aims to — and succeeds in — humanizing teachers and commenting on the socioeconomic disparities that exist in inner-city schools. Tyler’s character Gregory starts out at Abbott as a substitute teacher who, by the end of season 1, decides to join the Abbott staff in a full-time role.
The show returns on September 21 for its 22-episode sophomore season — nearly double the amount of episodes ordered for its first season. In the nine months since its premiere, Abbott has graduated from rookie sitcom to Emmy-winning record-breaker. A longer second season with more room to pace and play definitely provides a small sense of ease for the show’s cast and crew. But according to Tyler, his hunger has only intensified.
“As an actor, we love rehearsal. I look at season 1 as rehearsal at this point. We were rehearsing what Abbott Elementary could be. Season 2, it's time to get more intricate,” Tyler says.
In the new season, audiences will get to see fuller versions of the show’s main characters by moving beyond the halls of Abbott. “I love that we're going home with them,” says Tyler. “Outside is where there are more possibilities.” For him, the most exciting part of season 2 will be sharing new sides of Gregory as his challenging professional life affects his personal life — particularly Gregory's relationship with new girlfriend Taylor and his slow burn romance with Quinta's character Janine.
“He's never started a school year and had to run the whole thing,” says Tyler. “We know that Gregory gets frazzled and overwhelmed sometimes… that's what I've been having the most fun playing.”
Tyler also teases that season 2’s one-liners blow season 1’s punchlines out of the water. “Quinta and I have the same idea of comedy. I don't like things to be too cerebral… I need you to laugh with your soul. I'm trying to make you wheeze, grab your inhaler, because that's what TV does,” he says. “[In season 2] we stack jokes like crazy… you're going to have to watch season 2 two or three times to catch everything.”
Even with such talented comedic actors who have been in the game for years, the funniest cast members are arguably the smallest — the kid cast of Abbott is the heart and soul of the show. Tyler’s cast members have spoken about Tyler’s special relationship with the young cast, a connection rooted in understanding and empathy.
“Every now and then, [one of our child actors] will ask a question differently and you'll see something in their eye where they're learning and they're realizing that this is something that they enjoy doing and may want to do,” says Tyler. “I have a very unique perspective. A lot of people will talk to them like they're kids, but I remember being that kid. [I feel like], ‘No, explain it to them like they're an adult and they'll get it and they'll understand it and they'll respect you for it.’”
Young Tyler became a child star juggernaut with his titular role in the syndicated sitcom Everybody Hates Chris and a household name for the older half of Gen Z with his starring role in Disney Channel’s Let It Shine. Early in his career, his parents instilled in him a dedication to cultural representation that he’s carried ever since.
With his Abbott character Gregory, a masculine, awkwardly charming, passionate teacher, Tyler is on a mission to rewrite the beauty standards for the average Black man and change a cultural narrative. Ultimately, he wants Gregory’s legacy to be love. “I would love for young Black men to grow up to say that they want to be like Gregory,” says Tyler. “I would love for young Black women and young Black gay men to be attracted to somebody like Gregory. That's my goal, is to push him to the forefront so that when you see somebody who's not making a lot of money but they're doing work that fulfills them and is changing the conversation, that's inherently attractive.”
“Hopefully by the time this show is said and done… the average person can look at their life and go, ‘This is beautiful,’” he continues. “It doesn't have to look like private jets and matte-wrapped $250,000 cars and shit to be attractive. My level of success is not how many Birkins somebody bought me, it's how many people I connect with and love on a daily basis.”
Tyler’s laser-focused approach to Gregory Eddie is a result of hard-earned confidence, patience, and freedom. “I'm not scared anymore,” Tyler says. “Now, I trust my own instincts… I'm down to take the risks because I know what'll come from the other side of it.”
The actor has previously spoken about his emotional reaction to being nominated for his first Emmy. After so many milestones checked off so young, thanks to the massive success of Everybody Hates Chris, prestigious recognition like a Primetime Emmy nom was a mountaintop he hadn’t even realized he wanted to conquer. The nomination triggered a shift in the vision for his career, and his life.
“I spent so much of my twenties trying to craft an argument or course-correct where my career was headed,” says Tyler. “I was aware that I could get stuck and [become] the typical child actor story, so I was tunnel visioned. I forgot that there was all this other stuff. I started dreaming again. I had been so realistic for so long… [now I can] dream and look further down the road.”
As Tyler enters this next phase of his storied career, the fog has lifted, revealing a dotting of mountaintops on the horizon he hadn’t even realized were there, waiting to be scaled. There’s professional accolades, self-expression through fashion, a lifetime of love and joy. “I'm having fun. It's fun now. It's definitely fun,” Tyler says, nodding to himself with a smile. “As far as those mountaintops go, yeah… I think the sky's the limit right now. I'm just having a really good time with it, I think. I'm taking as much of it in stride as I can, and having fun with the little things.”
