Bringing the emotion and depth necessary to portray such a complex role is Michael K. Williams, a former dancer from New York. In addition to his work on The Wire, Williams has appeared on The Sopranos, CSI, Law and Order and Alias; and in films with Nicholas Cage, Mickey Rourke and Tupac Shakur. We had a chance to talk with Williams about his life and career in this surprisingly candid interview.

You started out as a dancer - how did you get into that?
I always had some type of dance ability growing up as a kid, but when I was about 23 years old working for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, I went to school for business management and I saw that Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation" video and it inspired me to wanna really take my dancing serious. I started focusing on that and going to the city taking classes and starting to plug myself into the dance world, the underground dance world. I did that for like two years and the next thing you know I got my first gig. I started touring as a dancer, that escalated to me getting gigs as a choreographer. My first job was Crystal Waters. I got my first job as a choreographer and that just went on and on and went on to Missy, Ginuwine, Mya. Mya was my last tour. Her first tour in 1998 was my last one.

What was it like working with Mya?
Man, she's a sweetheart, you know what I'm saying? She taught me a lot. She's very focused, she's professional, she's talented, and she studies, she works hard and I watched how she prepares herself ... and it rubbed off on me a little bit. I took a lot from her - like how I conduct my business, how professional I am.

You did some music videos, right? Weren't you in a Madonna video?
I did a bunch of music videos. That's how I got really started acting from the dancing. The life of a dancer, New York City, it's whatever - tour, music video, whatever you get your hands on. After I got cut in my face, a lot of music video gigs and photography jobs started coming in, so I started doing a little modeling and a lot more music videos. I guess because I had this edge, this look of a thug, I started getting calls after a while not to dance, but to portray roles in videos. That went on for a couple years and shit, I got something like 50 or 60 music videos under my belt, and then toward then end I started getting gigs with Marcus Nispel - a director, George Michael, Madonna, Shabba Ranks - Shabba Ranks was the shit back then, you know what I mean? Taylor Dane, all these big artists, they'd make characters in these videos, that was when I started getting my first glimpse as to what it is to be an actor.

Anybody who does a video, it's a lot of hours on the set, so I started learning a lot. I learned set lingo - lock it up, action, what a frame is, how to conduct yourself, how to conserve your energy for 10 hours then look like you just got there in the 11th hour and work for four more hours. You have to learn to pace yourself and I got all that training off the music videos and I was like, damn, if I had some lines, I could do this, because Nispel's screaming (in a German accent), "Michael emote, emote Michael, pain," doing this George Michael video and then I worked with Madonna and got to work with Melody McDaniels and that's when I knew I could do this.

You mentioned getting cut in your face? For those who don't know, what happened that night?
It was my 25th birthday, I was in a bar, shit got hot, drinking, then words got exchanged and bottom line, there was more of them then there was of me, dudes had razors in their mouths and I got cut. Wrong place, wrong time basically. Wrong drink. That definitely woke me up. That definitely was a life altering experience. I almost died that night.

From music videos, you started doing movies. Your first role was in a movie called Bullet with Tupac Shakur. How did that role come about?
I was on tour with Crystal Waters in 1994 and I got the audition for a Madonna video. I did the audition and, low and behold, I got it. So I called Crystal and said, "I've got to fall back from the group." The Friday the video was shooting, I was scheduled to leave to go for a three week tour of Europe and then off to Japan. So, I said, "I'm not going to fly out Friday. Let me stay, do this video, I'll fly out Saturday, Sunday or Monday and meet you in Germany" and she could take whatever it was going to cost out of my pay, but because of the scheduling and the way we were running around, she said I had to come then because they couldn't look for me.

So, I told her to have a safe trip basically and I fell back and shot the video. Within those three weeks that I was home after having shot the video, I got a phone call from Julien Temple, a production office. Apparently, Tupac saw a Polaroid of me in a production office and asked, "Who's this dude?" They found me, called me, had me come in and read for the role of the little brother in Bullet and I got the part. I got my first ever acting gig.

A lot of people are probably afraid to ask, but not us - do you think Tupac is still alive?
He is. Pac is definitely still alive. He's strong, in my heart. Fuck the flesh. That spirit is strong and kicking. He comes to me, he visits me on occasion, whenever I'm not feeling right or ain't acting right, I turn around and his face appears in the poster, them eyes piercing, looking at me, you know what I'm saying? He's very much alive.

What was he like to work with? What was that experience like for you?
He was electrifying, basically. I was a fan, number one. I was honored to be in his presence. I was very blessed, very humbled, to be there as an actor in his presence and I just did a lot of listening. I spoke very little and I listened to him every time he spoke, it was like E.F. Hutton. Very early on, he showed me how to command the set - to lock it down. He showed me how, on a certain level, to get things done.

I respect him a lot. I miss him. Sometimes I wonder what our relationship - or our connection, I should say - we never even had a chance to have a relationship. We never got to be friends or none of that. But I wonder what our connection would have been now, after having seen me bust my gun on The Wire and shit like that. I wonder, if he'd have been like, "Yo, that's my son right there," you know what I mean? I just wonder what our connection would be now today having seen me in The Wire. Had he been alive, he probably would have been Omar, he probably would have thugged that role from me. I wouldn't have had a chance, had he been alive. I don't know, but that's wonderful.

From there, you went on to work with Martin Scorsese on Bringing Out the Dead.
It was then that I decided to stop dancing. I was in California, we were doing three dates in L.A. and on the second night, right before the show, I called my manager to see what was on the bulletin board, to check it. It was Friday evening, she was like geeking, "Martin Scorsese wants to meet you Monday afternoon. I don't know where the fuck you're at, but have your black ass here on Monday." I was like, "Oh shit."

I caught the Red Eye out. Monday morning I went to that meeting. I was like 27-years-old and the knees were already aching, and I'm walking up in the room with Martin Scorsese, or Marty as he tells me to call him. I've got Marty telling me I'm a phenomenal actor - he cast me right there in the room.