Chalethia Williams

Chalethia Williams (born 1961 in Birmingham) is a professional actor, director, and educator. As a member of the Actors' Equity Association she has appeared in numerous Birmingham Children's Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare Festival productions, and heads the theater department at Miles College.

Williams, the youngest daughter of Nelson and Elnora George Williams, grew up on Finley Boulevard in Birmingham. She began acting in church performances and at Lewis Elementary School and North Birmingham Elementary School, and Carver High School. She enrolled at UAB but was discouraged from majoring in theater. She transferred to St Edward's University in Austin, Texas where she earned her bachelor of arts, and then completed a master of fine arts at Western Illinois University in Macomb.

Williams completed an apprenticeship at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas before returning home to Birmingham in 1986. She was part of the cast of the inaugural production for Terrific New Theatre and joined that company's board of directors in 2006. She has also performed with Birmingham Festival Theatre, Red Mountain Theatre Company, the Aldridge Repertory Theatre, and City Equity Theatre.

As an instructor, Williams has taught drama at Lawson State Community College, UAB, the University of Montevallo and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. She taught at Miles from 1992 to 2006, then returned as head of the drama program in 2009. UAB sponsored her participation in an Aesthetic Education program at the Lincoln Center Institute. She also directed summer drama camps for the Academy of Fine Arts in ​Gaithersburg, Maryland from 1997 to 2007.

Outside of theater, Williams has appeared on television in "The Conviction of Kitty Dodds" (CBS, 1993) and "The Rosa Parks Story" (CBS, 2002). She starred in Charles Wheeler's 2011 dramatic short film "We, in Expectation". She has served as an outreach storyteller for the North Birmingham Library. Williams was a featured performer in the locally-produced radio soap opera "BodyLove", and has done several local radio advertisements for McDonald's restaurants.

Williams founded Onyx Agency Inc., a talent agency, and Milk n Cookies, Inc, a cultural arts and educational center which began in 2000.

Williams also served as primary caregiver for her mother, who began experiencing symptoms of dementia in the early 2000s and died in 2014.

References

• Johnson, Roy S. (September 26, 2019) "Caring for her dying mother still inspires Birmingham performer, director." The Birmingham News