Afton Williamson

Afton Williamson (born September 7, 1984[1]) is an American actress, best known for the lead role of Police Officer Talia Bishop in the ABC series The Rookie and as Assistant District Attorney Alison Cacao Medding in the Cinemax original series Banshee.

Afton Williamson
Born (1984-09-07) September 7, 1984
Sylvania, Ohio, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materEastern Michigan University (B.F.A.)
Alabama Shakespeare Festival (M.F.A.)
OccupationActress
Years active2010–2020

Early life

Williamson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.[2]

Career

Williamson started as the understudy to Kerry Washington in the 2010 Broadway play Race before succeeding Washington in the role of Susan.[3] Later she has made her television debut appearing in an episode of The Good Wife. Williamson later guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, and Elementary. She had recurring roles on the CBS drama A Gifted Man from 2011 to 2012 as Autumn, and the first season of the television series Nashville as Makena. From 2014 to 2015, she had a regular role in the Cinemax network original series Banshee. In film, she made her debut in the 2011 drama Pariah.

In 2016, Williamson was cast in a leading role on the VH1 drama series The Breaks.[4][5] She starred as Officer Wiggins in the 2016 HBO miniseries The Night Of.

In 2018, Williamson was cast in the ABC drama series The Rookie.[6][7] In 2019, Williamson quit the show citing claims of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and assault.[8] TVLine had reported that Williamson, who portrayed Talia Bishop, would not be returning for the second season. While the outlet initially claimed that the split was amicable, Williamson, in a lengthy Instagram post, stated that she had left the series due to having "experienced racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department."[9] Williamson also alleged that she was sexually harassed by guest star Demetrius Grosse, who portrays Kevin Wolfe in a recurring role, as well as an incident of bullying that escalated into sexual assault at a party; the head of the hair department was identified as Sallie Ciganovich. Williamson claimed that she had gone to the showrunners multiple times with these allegations, but was ignored.[9]

All involved in the allegations denied them. An investigation was commissioned through the law firm Mitchell Sillerberg and Knupp along with a third-party firm, EXTTI, which conducted nearly 400 hours of interviews and examined video and other evidence.[10] The results of the investigation were published on September 17, 2019, which found that the allegations made by Williamson had no merit, and could not be proven. Williamson stood by her claims, calling the results of the investigation "heartbreaking" and postulated that the producers had lied to cover up the truth of what happened.[11]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Director Notes
2011 Pariah Mika Dee Rees
2012 Man on a Ledge Janice Ackerman Asger Leth
Abducted: The Carlina White Story Cassandra Television film
2018 Write When You Get Work Valamy Vega Stacy Cochran
2019 Otherhood Julia Cindy Chupack
2020 Still Here Tiffany Watson Vlad Feier

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Da Brick Rachel Pilot
The Good Wife Yarissa Morgan Episode: "Bad Girls"
2011 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Isabelle Wright Episode: "Reparations"
Homeland Helen Walker 3 episodes (credited as Afton C. Williamson)
2011–2012 A Gifted Man Autumn 9 episodes
2012 Blue Bloods Officer Perez Episode: "No Questions Asked"
Royal Pains Heather Small Episode: "Business & Pleasure"
Nashville Makena 3 episodes
2013–2015 The Following Haley Mercury / Kate 2 episodes
2014–2015 Banshee Alison Medding 8 episodes
2015 Elementary Shauna Scott Episode: "The Best Way Out Is Always Through"
2015–2016 Blindspot Kara Sloane 2 episodes
2016 The Night Of Officer Wiggins 5 episode
2017 The Breaks Nikki
2018 Shades of Blue Katie Myers 7 episodes
Bull ADA Gabrielle Ramsden Episode: "Witness for the Prosecution"
The Blacklist Lulu Episode: "The Apothecary"
2018–2019 The Rookie Talia Bishop Main role (season 1)

References
  1. "Afton Williamson on Instagram: "On September 7th, 1984 1:43pm in room 143 in Flower Hospital, Sylvania OH a Queen was born. Thank you Father for another year. May it be filled with beauty, prosperity, joy, happiness, and many more lessons learned, chains broken, layers shed. Until I ultimately see the version of me that you Created before you placed me in my mother's womb❤️ #9/7"".
  2. "Afton Williamson Resume" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-03. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  3. Mellini, Michael (July 1, 2010). "Afton C. Williamson Races Ahead From Understudy to Leading Lady". Zap2It. Retrieved November 16, 2012.
  4. "Afton Williamson on Comparing 'Empire' to 'The Breaks': 'I Kind of Cringe'". 4 January 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  5. Petski, Denise (1 June 2015). "VH1 Hip-Hop Movie 'The Breaks' Sets Cast". Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (7 February 2018). "'The Rookie': Eric Winter & Afton Williamson To Co-Star In ABC Series". Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  7. Ausiello, Michael (7 February 2018). "The Rookie: Afton Williamson Cast as Nathan Fillion's New Partner in Crime". Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  8. "'The Rookie' Star Afton Williamson Claims Discrimination, Sexual Harassment and Assault Led to Series Exit". Variety. 2019-08-04. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  9. Mitovich, Matt (August 4, 2019). "Afton Williamson Quit The Rookie After Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Racial Bullying Went Largely Ignored". TVLine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  10. Otterson, Joe (September 17, 2019). "Afton Williamson 'Rookie' Investigation: Studio Finds No 'Inappropriate' Workplace Behavior". Variety. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  11. Mandell, Angela (September 17, 2019). "Afton Williamson responds after 'Rookie' investigation finds 'no inappropriate behavior'". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
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