Meet Jessica Williams, breakout star of Apple TV’s comedy-drama Shrinking
Starting off with improv in school, she joined Amy Poehler’s comedy group and broke through as the youngest correspondent on The Daily Show
Ford plays Paul Rhoades, a senior therapist living with Parkinson’s disease, and Williams is Gaby, Laird’s colleague who’s on a personal journey of finding purpose while navigating a romance with Derrick (Damon Wayans Jr). Williams, in particular, is earning high praise for her performance in season three so far.
“[Shrinking is] not a cool show, quote, unquote. It’s a sweet show. And there’s something about, especially as I get older, being cool that I actually don’t like,” the 36-year-old actress told Rolling Stone.
So, what else do we know about Jessica Williams?
What’s her background?
Jessica Renee Williams was born on July 31, 1989, and grew up in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, per Rolling Stone. Her father worked for the LAPD, and her mother was employed by the state of California, reports The Cut. She was close to her late grandmother, Marsha, who introduced her to comedy shows like The Critic, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Howard the Duck and South Park, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In a conversation with NPR Washington DC station WAMU, Williams revealed that she was “really bookish” as a child. “I was reading all of the time. I had big glasses,” she recalled. From a young age, Williams was told she “acted too white” – a comment she considered “really damaging”. She attended a “predominantly white school” and went to a black Baptist church, where she participated in a purity ceremony at 14. “I remember that [ceremony] being the first time where I felt like my body wasn’t my own,” she said.
How did she get into acting?
