Afton Williamson (born September 7, 1984) is an American actress, best known for the lead role of Police Officer Talia Bishop in the ABC series '' The Rookie'' and as Assistant District Attorney Alison Cacao Medding in the

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

original series ''

Banshee A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or kee ...

''.

Early life and education

Williamson was born in Toledo, Ohio. Williamson earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

degree from

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree from the

Alabama Shakespeare Festival The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is among the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. The festival is permanently housed in the Carolyn Blount Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama. ASF puts on 6-9 productions annually, typically includin ...

Career

Williamson started as the understudy to

Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fil ...

in the 2010 Broadway play '' Race'' before succeeding Washington in the role of Susan. Later she has made her television debut appearing in an episode of ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...

''. Williamson later guest starred on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', '' Blue Bloods'', and '' Elementary''. She had recurring roles on the CBS drama '' A Gifted Man'' from 2011 to 2012 as Autumn, and the first season of the television series ''

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

'' as Makena. From 2014 to 2015, she had a regular role in the

network original series ''

''. In film, she made her debut in the 2011 drama '' Pariah''. In 2016, Williamson was cast in a leading role on the VH1 drama series '' The Breaks''. She starred as Officer Wiggins in the 2016 HBO miniseries ''

The Night Of ''The Night Of'' is a 2016 American eight-part crime drama miniseries based on the first series of ''Criminal Justice'', a 2008 British series. The miniseries was written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian (based on the original ''Criminal Ju ...

''. In 2018, Williamson was cast in the ABC drama series '' The Rookie''. In 2019, Williamson quit the show citing claims of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and assault. ''TVLine'' had reported that Williamson, who portrayed Talia Bishop, would not be returning for the second season. While the outlet initially claimed that the split was amicable, Williamson, in a lengthy Instagram post, stated that she had left the series due to having "experienced racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department." Williamson also alleged that she was sexually harassed by guest star Demetrius Grosse, who portrays Kevin Wolfe in a recurring role, as well as an incident of bullying that escalated into sexual assault at a party; the head of the hair department was identified as Sallie Ciganovich. Williamson claimed that she had gone to the showrunners multiple times with these allegations, but was ignored. All involved in the allegations denied them. An investigation was commissioned through the law firm Mitchell Sillerberg and Knupp along with a third-party firm, EXTTI, which conducted nearly 400 hours of interviews and examined video and other evidence. The results of the investigation were published on September 17, 2019, which found that the allegations made by Williamson had no merit, and could not be proven. Williamson stood by her claims, calling the results of the investigation "heartbreaking" and postulated that the producers had lied to cover up the truth of what happened.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Afton Living people 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American television actresses Actresses from Toledo, Ohio American stage actresses Eastern Michigan University alumni 1984 births 21st-century African-American actresses 20th-century African-American actresses 20th-century American actresses