William Jackson Harper

William Fitzgerald Harper (born February 8, 1980), known professionally as William Jackson Harper, is an American actor and playwright. He gained acclaim for his role as Chidi Anagonye in the NBC comedy series The Good Place (2016–2020), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Harper started his career as a main cast member of the PBS Kids Go! series The Electric Company (2009–2011). As a playwright, he wrote We Live Here (2010) and Travisville (2018). He made his Broadway acting debut portraying civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael in the play All the Way (2013). Harper's other notable roles on stage include Romeo & Juliet (2012), After the Blast (2017), and Primary Trust (2023). For his role as Astrov in the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of Uncle Vanya (2024) he earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

He has starred in the Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad (2020), the second season of the HBO Max comedy series Love Life (2021), and in the Peacock comedy mystery series The Resort (2022). Harper has taken supporting roles in films such as Paterson (2016), Midsommar (2019), and Dark Waters (2019). He portrayed Quaz in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).

Early life and education William Fitzgerald Harper was born on February 8, 1980, in Dallas, Texas. Harper grew up in Garland, Texas, and attended Lakeview Centennial High School. He graduated from the College of Santa Fe in 2003. Harper chose the stage name "William Jackson Harper" when registering for the Actors' Equity Association; most variations of "William Harper" were already in use, and he thought that "Fitzgerald" was too long. He then decided to honor his mother by using her maiden name, "Jackson", as his stage middle name. In 2008 he performed in Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Lynn Nottage's play, Ruined, which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. From 2009 to 2011, he played Danny Rebus in the PBS series The Electric Company. In 2010 he appeared in the Public Theater's mobile unit production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and in 2011 returned for Titus Andronicus, this time at the Anspacher Theater. He starred as Marty Boy in debut of The Total Bent, a musical composed by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, that premiered at The Public Theater in 2012. The show was later reworked around Ato Blankson-Wood. Harper made his Broadway debut in 2014 portraying Stokely Carmichael in the Robert Schenkkan play All the Way starring Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson. The play revolved around the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The production went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play. Harper and Carrie Coon co-starred together in the 2015 Melissa James Gibson play, Placebo at Playwrights Horizon Theater. Marilyn Stasio of Variety praised him writing, "Harper inhabits the difficult role as comfortably as someone who lives in robe and slippers". The following year he took a supporting role in the Jim Jarmusch drama Paterson (2016) starring Adam Driver.

In 2016, Harper was cast on the NBC comedy The Good Place created by Michael Schur. Before landing the role of Chidi Anagonye, he considered quitting acting. Harper did not learn about the show's real premise until after he was cast. His performance has received critical praise and he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2020. In 2017, in between filming the show's first and second seasons, he had a leading role alongside Cristin Milioti in Zoe Kazan's futuristic romantic drama After the Blast at Lincoln Center's Claire Tow Theatre. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "[Kazan] has...elicited superb performances from the lead actors, with Harper quietly persuasive as the husband desperately trying to keep his marriage intact". Also in 2017 he had a supporting role in the VH1 drama series The Breaks.

In 2018, Harper's play Travisville had its world premiere at Ensemble Studio Theatre. In an interview with Bloomberg News, he revealed that the play was inspired by the displacement of a poor Black community that was situated near the grounds of the Texas State Fair in Dallas. The same year, he appeared in the sci-fi film They Remain. In 2019, he starred in two critically acclaimed films, playing Josh in the Ari Aster directed horror film Midsommar and James Ross in the Todd Haynes legal thriller Dark Waters. Also that year, he voiced John Mercer Langston in season one of the Airship podcast 1865, which details the weeks immediately following the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln.

It was announced in April 2020 that he would narrate the Marvel audio book series Black Panther: Sins of the King, and in November 2020, that he would star in season 2 of the HBO Max anthology series Love Life. In 2021 he acted in the Barry Jenkins directed Amazon Prime Video miniseries The Underground Railroad adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2016 historical novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead. For his performance Harper was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries. In October 2022, it was revealed that Harper joined the cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was released in theaters on February 17, 2023.

In 2023 he starred as Kenneth in the Eboni Booth play Primary Trust at the Roundabout Theatre Company Off-Broadway. The play ran from May 4 to July 2 at the Laura Pels Theatre. Naveen Kumar of The New York Times praised his performance writing, "Harper, who is onstage for nearly all of the production’s 95 minutes, performs with astonishing ease and vulnerability, particularly given the depths he is asked to plumb in monologues directly to the audience; he lends the currents flowing through Kenneth's interior life extraordinary subtlety and immediacy". For his performance Harper won the 2023 Obie Award for Outstanding Performance. Harper is set to return to Broadway playing Astrov in the 2024 revival of the Anton Chekhov play Uncle Vanya starring Steve Carell, Alison Pill, Jayne Houdyshell and Alfred Molina at Lincoln Center. For his performance he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. In January 2026 it was announced that Harper was cast in Cry Wolf, a limited series on FX inspired by the Danish series Ulven Kommer.

Personal life

Harper is in a relationship with actress Ali Ahn, who co-starred with him in an outdoor production of Romeo + Juliet in New York in 2012.

Acting credits Film Year Title Role NotesRef. 2010 All Good Things Moynihan's Assistant 2012 That's What She Said Harry 2015 True Story Zak Rausch 2016 Paterson Everett 2018 They Remain Keith 2019 Lost Holiday Mark Midsommar Josh Dark Waters James Ross 2020 David David Short film The Man in the Woods Buster Heath 2021 We Broke Up Doug2023 Landscape with Invisible Hand Mr. Campbell Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Quaz 2026 The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd Post-production

Television Year Title Role NotesRef. 2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Chayne Danforth Episode: "Self-made"2009 Great Performances Melville Episode: "Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story" Mercy David Green Episode: "I Believe You Conrad" 2009–2011 The Electric Company Danny Rebus Main cast; 52 episodes 2010 Law & Order Officer Derek Waldron Episode: "Boy on Fire" 2011 30 Rock Rioter Episode: "Plan B" 2013 Unforgettable Andry Fotre aka Arnold Episode: "Incognito" 2014 High Maintenance Andrew Episode: "Geiger"2015 Person of Interest Strobel Episode: "Control-Alt-Delete" The Blacklist Security Episode: "Tom Connolly (No. 11)" 2016 Deadbeat Adam Episode: "Death List Three" 2016–2020 The Good Place Chidi Anagonye Main cast; 53 episodes 2017 The Breaks Stephen Jenkins 3 episodes 2019 Jack Ryan Xander 2 episodes 2020–2021 American Dad! TV Reporter, General Store Cashier, Nathaniel (voices) 3 episodes 2021–2022 Dogs in Space Loaf (voice) 16 episodes2021 The Underground Railroad Royal 4 episodes Inside Job Bryan Jacobsen / Bryan Bot (voice) Episode: "Sex Machina" Love Life Marcus Watkins Main role (season 2) Death to 2021 Zero Fournine Television special2022 The Resort Noah Main cast Little Demon Jimmy (voice) Episode: "Everybody's Dying for the Weekend" 2024 A Man in Full Wes Jordan 6 episodes2025 The Morning Show Ben Ross 6 episodes Elsbeth Gary Pidgeon Episode: "Poetic Justice" 2026 American HostageBen Hairston TBA Cry WolfArthur

Theater Year Title Role Playwright Venue Ref.2007 Neglect Joseph Sharyn Rothstein Ensemble Studio Theatre, Off-Broadway 2007–2008 Queens Boulevard (The Musical) Performer Charles L. Mee Signature Theatre Company, Off-Broadway 2008 Paradise Park Benny Rich Boyfriend Performer Evan Smith The New Group, Off-Broadway Ruined Miner / Soldier Simon / Aid Worker Lynn Nottage Goodman Theatre, Chicago 2009 New York City Center, Off-Broadway 2010 A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick Adebe Kia Corthron Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway microcrisis Fed Chair / Acquah Michael Lew HERE Arts Center, Off-Broadway 2011 The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness Performer Carla Ching The Connelly Theater, Off-Broadway Titus Andronicus Demetrius William Shakespeare The Public Theater, Off-Broadway 2012 The Total Bent Marty Boy Stew The Public Theater, Off-Broadway Massacre (Sing To Your Children) Performer José Rivera Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Romeo & Juliet Romeo William Shakespeare Shakespeare on the Sound Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them Qala Jon Kern Second Stage Theater, Off-Broadway 2013 All the Way Stokely Carmichael Robert Schenkkan American Repertory Theatre 2014 Neil Simon Theatre, Broadway You Got Older Mac Clare Barron HERE Arts Center, Off-Broadway 2015 Placebo Jonathan Melissa James Gibson Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway 2017 After the Blast Oliver Zoe Kazan Lincoln Center Theater, Off-Broadway 2023 Primary Trust Kenneth Eboni Booth Roundabout Theatre Company, Off-Broadway 2024 Uncle Vanya Astrov Anton Chekov Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2018Critics' Choice Television AwardBest Supporting Actor in a Comedy SeriesThe Good Place 2019 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series 2021 Critics' Choice Television Award Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries The Underground Railroad 2022 Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Love Life 2023 Obie Awards Outstanding Performance Primary Trust 2024 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play Drama League Awards Distinguished Performance Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play Outer Critics Circle Awards Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play Tony Award Best Actor in a Play Uncle Vanya