Michael Kenneth Williams

Yo- Omar? is that you?

Michael Kenneth Williams aka Omar Little from HBO The Wire gets dapper in GQ.

Today the actor is starring in a new HBO series called Boardwalk Empire. He plays Chalky White, Atlantic City gangster, booze runner, and lord of the mellifluously named black neighborhood Chicken Bone Beach.

“Twenty percent of the vote in Atlantic City back then was black. And if you wanted it, you had to deal with Chalky White,” he says. “This dude was a businessman. He did it for the love of the money, not the thrill of the hunt like Omar.”

Magazine excerpt:

Williams showed up for his photo shoot in modern-day Atlantic City with his miniature Doberman pinscher, Brooklyn. “He’s got a little body, huge heart,” he says. Brooklyn is named for the actor’s home borough, where he lived, in the same Vanderveer projects he grew up in, even as The Wire propelled him to international critical success. (“Handling money wasn’t exactly my strong suit,” he admits.)

As for the lingering specter of Omar—people yell the name out to him on the street, call him by it in restaurants, want to dwell on it in interviews—Williams flashes that signature grin, wide as the Atlantic. “Are you kidding? It’s a blessing, man,” he says. “If it wasn’t for luck, they could be calling out ‘Inmate Number Three.’”