Nigel Shawn Williams

Nigel Shawn Williams is a Canadian actor and theatre director from Toronto, Ontario.[1]

Williams was born in Jamaica, and moved to Canada with his family in childhood.[2] A 1990 graduate of the University of Windsor,[2] his early stage roles included Thomas Coyle's The Tyrant of Pontus, Suzan-Lori Parks' Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom, Robert E. Sherwood's The Petrified Forest and George Bernard Shaw's The Six of Calais.[2] He won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role – Play in 1995 for his performance as Paul in John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation.[3]

He won a second Dora as an actor in 2012 for his performance as Lincoln in Obsidian Theatre's production of Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog,[4] and was a nominee in 2013 for his performance as Henry in Canadian Stage's production of David Mamet's Race. As a director, he won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play/Musical in 2006 for his direction of Colleen Wagner's The Monument, and was nominated in 2011 for his direction of Anusree Roy's Brothel #9.

His film and television credits include the television series The City, The Famous Jett Jackson, The Jane Show, XIII: The Conspiracy and The Listener, and the films Phantom Punch, Down in the Delta, Vendetta, Jett Jackson: The Movie, John Q and Brown Girl Begins.