Kit Williamson

He was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi and attended Interlochen Arts Academy, an arts boarding school in northern lower Michigan.{{cite web |url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=13021_0_8_0_C |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070705085531/http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=13021_0_8_0_C |archive-date=July 5, 2007 |website=Jackson Free Press |title=[Art] From Jackson to Broadway |url-status=dead}} He later attended Fordham University{{Cite web |url=http://www.papermag.com/blogs/2007/03/curtain_cuties_kit_williamson.php |title=PAPERMAG: WORD UP!: Curtain Cuties: Kit Williamson |access-date=January 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328041634/http://www.papermag.com/blogs/2007/03/curtain_cuties_kit_williamson.php |archive-date=March 28, 2008 |url-status=dead }} and received his MFA from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television.{{Cite news|url=https://www.tubefilter.com/2017/11/09/sundance-youtube-new-voices-lab-jon-cozart/|title=Sundance, YouTube Open Submissions For 2018 New Voices Lab, Select Jon Cozart Among 2017 Class - Tubefilter|date=November 9, 2017|work=Tubefilter|access-date=October 18, 2018|language=en-US}}

{{Main|EastSiders}}

In 2012, Williamson created the web series EastSiders; two episodes were launched on YouTube in December 2012. Williamson crowdfunded the remaining episodes on Kickstarter, raising over $25,000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1503081443/eastsiders-the-series/description|title=EastSiders The Series|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=January 9, 2018}} The subsequent second and third seasons were also successfully crowded funded through Kickstarter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1503081443/eastsiders-season-two|title=EastSiders: Season 2|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=January 9, 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1503081443/eastsiders-season-3-of-the-emmy-nominated-lgbt-ser|title=EastSiders: Season 3 of the Emmy-Nominated LGBT Series|website=Kickstarter|language=en-US|access-date=January 9, 2018}} In 2014, Wolfe Video became the series official distributor.{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2017/07/kit-williamsons-eastsiders-wolfe-releasing-production-1202126075/|title=Kit Williamson's Web Series 'EastSiders' & Wolfe Releasing Beef Up Partnership|last=N'Duka|first=Amanda|date=July 10, 2017|work=Deadline|access-date=January 9, 2018|language=en-US}} The series was sold to Netflix in 2016,{{Cite news|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/eastsiders-lgbt-web-series-sold-netflix-kit-williamson-1201701822/|title='How I Sold My Web Series to Netflix': The Director of 'EastSiders' Explains His Secret|last=Williamson|first=Kit|date=July 1, 2016|work=IndieWire|access-date=January 9, 2018|language=en-US}} and a third season was released in 2017.{{Cite news|url=http://www.towleroad.com/2018/01/eastsiders-4/|title=Watch Wilson Cruz and Tuc Watkins Play 'Perverts In Love' In Exclusive 'EastSiders' Season 3 Clip - Towleroad|date=January 8, 2018|work=Towleroad|access-date=January 9, 2018|language=en-US}} The series has received critical acclaim since its release.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/eastsiders-youtube-web-series/|title="Eastsiders": Gay dark comedy finds audience on YouTube|last=Valinsky|first=Jordan|date=January 14, 2013|work=The Daily Dot|access-date=May 10, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/critics-picks-2013s-six-drama-web-series-you-must-see-including-the-years-best|title=Critic's Picks: 2013's Six Drama Web Series You Must See, Including the Year's Best|date=December 20, 2013|website=|publisher=IndieWire|access-date=May 10, 2015}}

Writing for IndieWire, Williamson explained his inspiration for the series:

My goals when I created the show were simple; I wanted to write, direct and star in a project and see it through to completion, because I had been involved in so many micro budget projects that never saw the light of day. I also wanted to create the kind of LGBT series that TV networks refuse to, one where the main characters were not only gay, but flawed, complex individuals trying to navigate their messy lives, just like their straight friends.

In 2025, Williamson released his follow up series "Unconventional" on the LGBTQ streaming network Revry.{{Cite web |last=Malkin |first=Marc |date=February 6, 2025 |title=Kit Williamson Says His New Queer TV Comedy 'Unconventional' Isn't About Politics, but 'Unfortunately Our Lives Have Been Politicized': 'I'm Not Going to Quiet Down' |url=https://variety.com/2025/tv/columns/kit-williamson-queer-tv-comedy-unconventional-political-revry-1236298599/ |access-date=March 18, 2025 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} In addition to creating, writing and directing he also starred in the series as Noah, a queer millennial questioning the future of his 10-year marriage to his husband Dan (James Bland). At the same time, Noah becomes the sperm donor to his sister Margot's wife, Eliza. Each episode follows a month of the pregnancy.

Other leads include Beau Bridges, Kathy Griffin, Willam, Jenna Ushkowitz, Tuc Watkins, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, James Urbaniak, Constantine Rousouli, Laith Ashley, Aubrey Shea, Briana Venskus and James Bland. Bland also served as a producer, writer and director on the series.

Williamson has worked as an actor on stage, television, and in film. He appeared in the Broadway premiere of Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio, starring Liev Schreiber, which ran from March 11 to June 24, 2007.[http://talkradioonbroadway.com/cast.php Talk Radio on Broadway] Other stage performances include the Off-Broadway premiere of Przemyslaw Wojcieszek's Made in Poland. For this performance in Made in Poland, Williamson earned a positive review in Variety: "Williamson's hilariously serious perf as an angst-filled wannabe revolutionary strikes exactly the right note. As he wanders around his little town in post-Communist Poland, vandalizing cars and trashing phone booths, the unfairness of everything becomes so oppressive he delivers Bogus' every line like it's a prelude to a fistfight."{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117938973?refCatId=33|title=Review: 'Made in Poland'|first=Sam|last=Thielman|date=November 10, 2008}}

His television roles include a recurring role on the AMC series Mad Men, from 2013 to 2015,{{Cite news|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/05/catching-up-with-kit-williamson-of-mad-men.html|title=Catching Up With Kit Williamson Of Mad Men And EastSiders|work=Paste (magazine)|access-date=January 9, 2018|language=en}} as well as supporting roles on Numb3rs (2009), Death Valley (2011), and The Good Wife (2015).

In 2021, Williamson was announced alongside Brittany Cavallaro as a writer and producer for the television adaptation of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar novel series. The first season will adapt Lackey's Last Herald-Mage trilogy. The show is being developed by Radar Pictures with Ted Field as Executive Producer.{{Cite web|last=White|first=Peter|date=August 3, 2021|title='Valdemar Universe' Fantasy Book Series In The Works For TV From Kit Williamson, Brittany Cavallaro & Radar Pictures|url=https://deadline.com/2021/08/valdemar-universe-fantasy-book-tv-series-1234807994/|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=Deadline|language=en-US}}

Williamson said that his connection the trilogy's gay protagonist enamored him with the books, telling Deadline:

Vanyel in The Last Herald Mage series was one of the first gay characters I encountered, and as a recently out 16-year-old I can't stress enough the impact that these books had on me. The Valdemar series was far ahead of its time in the portrayal of LGBTQ characters, and Lackey's writing afforded them a level of depth and complexity that is still very rare, especially in genre storytelling.

Williamson is gay, and has been married to his EastSiders co-star John Halbach since February 27, 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/mad-men-star-kit-williamsons-perfect-gay-wedding-john-halbach-10-adorable-pics/#gs.NxAB6AQ|title=Mad Men star Kit Williamson's perfect gay wedding to John Halbach – in 10 adorable pics|work=Gay Star News |date=March 31, 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://voices.outtakeonline.com/2013/08/gay-activist-actor-kit-williamson.html|title=Gay Activist Actor Kit Williamson Speaks OUT}}

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• [https://twitter.com/kitwilliamson Kit Williamson] on Twitter
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Category:1985 births

Category:American directors

Category:American gay actors

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male television actors

Category:Fordham University alumni

Category:Interlochen Center for the Arts alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Jackson, Mississippi

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni