Reginald Williams is an American educator and the father of award-winning actor, director, and activist Jesse Williams. He is an African American man originally from Georgia who worked as a factory worker before putting himself through Harvard and later building a career as a history teacher.
Though Reginald Williams remains completely private and out of the spotlight, his influence on Jesse Williams, his famous son, runs through every layer of the actor’s career and activism.
Quick Bio
| Details | Information |
| Full Name | Reginald Williams |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | African American with Seminole ancestry |
| Originally From | Georgia, USA |
| Profession | History Teacher, former factory worker |
| Wife | Johanna Chase |
| Son | Jesse Williams (actor and activist) |
| Other Children | Coire Williams, Matt Williams |
| Famous For | Being the father of Jesse Williams |
| Education | Harvard University (attended while Jesse was in high school) |
| Known Values | Education, cultural identity, and social awareness |
Who Is Reginald Williams?
Reginald Williams is an American history teacher best known as the father of Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams. He is not a public figure and has never pursued media attention or celebrity visibility. Almost everything the public knows about him comes directly from Jesse’s own interviews and biographical accounts.
His story is one of remarkable personal discipline. Reginald started his working life in a factory. He later put himself through Harvard while his son Jesse was still in high school.
After Jesse graduated in 1998, Reginald began teaching history in northern Maine. His career shift from factory work to academia and teaching reflects a deep personal commitment to education and self-improvement.
Reginald Williams and Jesse Williams: A Father’s Lasting Influence
How Reginald Shaped Jesse’s Identity
Reginald Williams is an African American man from Georgia with Seminole and Angolan ancestry. Jesse Williams has described his father’s influence as foundational to his understanding of race, history, and identity.
Growing up in a household where a father taught history and a mother created art, Jesse absorbed both intellectual discipline and creative expression from his earliest years.
Jesse Williams was born on August 5, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois, to Reginald Williams and his wife Johanna Chase, a Swedish American professional potter and art teacher.
After his parents divorced, Jesse moved with his family to suburban Massachusetts, where he experienced the challenges of growing up biracial in a predominantly white neighborhood. These early experiences directly shaped the activist and storyteller he later became.
Reginald Williams at the 2016 BET Awards
One of the rare public appearances Reginald Williams made was at the 2016 BET Awards alongside Johanna Chase. Jesse received the Humanitarian Award that evening for his efforts toward social change.
Jesse publicly thanked both his parents during his iconic acceptance speech, which became one of the most discussed moments in BET Awards history. Seeing Reginald in the audience during that speech gave the public one of the very few glimpses into the man behind the famous son.
Jesse Credits His Parents Directly
Jesse Williams has repeatedly credited both his parents for building the foundation of his activism. His father’s career as a history teacher instilled in Jesse a serious respect for the past, for identity, and for the power of education. Jesse followed a nearly identical path before entering entertainment. He taught American Studies, African American history, and English at public high schools in Philadelphia for six years after graduating from Temple University in 2003.
Reginald Williams’ Wife: Johanna Chase
Reginald Williams married Johanna Chase, a professional potter, ceramics artist, and art teacher. Johanna is of Swedish American descent. She studied at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 1996. Since 2007, she has taught sculpture and ceramics at Braintree High School.
Together, Reginald and Johanna built a family environment that strongly encouraged creativity, education, and social awareness. Their three children all pursued fields rooted in these values. Although Reginald and Johanna later divorced, Jesse has remained close to both parents and continues to publicly acknowledge the role each played in forming his character.
Reginald Williams’ Children
Jesse Williams: Actor and Activist
Jesse Williams is the most publicly recognized of Reginald’s three children. He is best known globally for playing Dr. Jackson Avery on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy across 12 seasons from 2009 to 2021.
Before acting, Jesse worked as a high school teacher. He is also a founding partner of the production company farWord Inc.. He serves as executive producer of Question Bridge: Black Males, a transmedia art project now part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s permanent collection.
Coire Williams
Coire Williams is Jesse’s younger brother. He works as a landscape designer and runs his own landscaping company called Lightwell Landscaping. He is based in East Orange, New Jersey, and also works as a firefighter. His path in landscape design and physical craft reflects the same creative and hands-on values that Reginald and Johanna instilled in all three children.
Matt Williams
Matt Williams is the youngest of Reginald’s three children. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute in 2010. He works in editorial, advertising, illustration, and animation and serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He goes by the nickname “Uberkraaft” and is known for a distinctive artistic style that stands apart in the illustration world.
Jesse Williams Movies and TV Shows: A Career Built on Reginald’s Foundation
Jesse Williams built his acting career on the same intellectual discipline his father modeled as a history teacher. His filmography and television work reflect a consistent drive toward meaningful storytelling.
Television Work
Jesse made his television debut in 2006 with a guest role on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. He followed this with recurring roles on One Life to Live (2006 to 2007) and the beach drama Beyond the Break (2006 to 2009).
His breakout came when he joined Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Jackson Avery, initially as a recurring character before being upgraded to a series regular. He remained with the show for 12 full seasons.
In 2022, Jesse appeared as a guest star in Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building, playing Tobert, a documentary filmmaker. His most recent major television project is the Prime Video Italy original Hotel Costiera, which premiered on September 24, 2025.
Films
Jesse’s film debut came in 2008 with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, where he played Leo. He followed this with Brooklyn’s Finest (2009), The Cabin in the Woods (2012) opposite Chris Hemsworth, and Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013), where he portrayed real-life civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson. He also appeared in Snake and Mongoose (2013) and Jacob’s Ladder (2019) and served as executive producer for the Academy Award-winning short film Two Distant Strangers (2020).
Broadway
After leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Jesse made his Broadway debut in the 2022 revival of Take Me Out at Second Stage Theater. The production won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. Jesse received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance.
Cast of Hotel Costiera: Jesse Williams’ Latest Project
Hotel Costiera is a six-episode Prime Video Italy original action and comedy series set on Italy’s Amalfi Coast in the town of Positano. Jesse Williams plays Daniel De Luca, an Italian-American former Marine who works as a fixer for one of the world’s most exclusive hotels. Daniel is also searching for the hotel owner’s kidnapped daughter.
Jesse also served as hands-on executive producer on the series and was deeply involved in all casting decisions. The full cast of Hotel Costiera includes Maria Chiara Giannetta, Jordan Alexandra, Antonio Gerardi, Sam Haygarth, Tommaso Ragno, Amanda Campana, Pierpaolo Spollon, Alejandra Onieva, and Jean-Hugues Anglade. The show is co-produced by Amazon, MGM Studios, and Luca Bernabei for Lux Vide, the Fremantle-owned Italian production company behind global hits such as Medici and Devils.
To prepare for the role, Jesse worked with a dialect coach both before and during production to learn Italian for select scenes. He described the experience as a labor of love and expressed that he wanted to explore storytelling outside of the United States after his long run on Grey’s Anatomy.
Jesse Williams’ Parents and the Roots of His Activism
Reginald Williams and Johanna Chase are both described by Jesse as activists who shaped his passion for social justice.
Jesse serves on the board of directors at The Advancement Project, a civil rights think tank and advocacy group. His 2016 BET Humanitarian Award speech drew global attention and became a defining moment in contemporary entertainment activism.
The values Reginald modeled through his own life journey, from factory floor to Harvard to the history classroom, gave Jesse a direct example of what intellectual determination looks like in practice.
Jesse has always spoken about his parents with deep respect, and that respect shows clearly in the consistency of his public commitments.
Other Notable People Named Reginald Williams
Because the name Reginald Williams is shared by several public figures, it helps to clarify who is who across different fields.
“Reginald Williams” in basketball refers to multiple players who have competed at the college and professional levels. The name appears in NCAA and minor league records across several decades.
“Reginald Williams in New Orleans” refers to community figures and local leaders who have contributed to the city’s cultural and civic life over the years.
“Reginald Williams in Jacksonville” refers to individuals active in local business and community organizations in Jacksonville, Florida.
Reginald Williams at Chemours refers to a professional associated with the chemical company formerly connected to DuPont, active in corporate and industrial leadership roles.
“Reginald Williams in Cobb County” refers to public servants or local administrators active in the Cobb County, Georgia area.
Reginald Williams, the rapper, is a name that appears in independent hip-hop and regional music circles, separate from the educator discussed in this article.
Reginald Williams, the comedian, refers to performers using the name in stand-up and entertainment circuits, unrelated to Jesse Williams’ father.
Each of these individuals shares the name but belongs to an entirely different story. The most widely searched online is unquestionably the father of Jesse Williams.
Little-Known Facts About Reginald Williams
Reginald Williams worked in a factory before pursuing higher education. He put himself through Harvard while his son Jesse was still attending high school, a fact Jesse has mentioned directly in interviews. This means Reginald completed a Harvard education as a working adult and parent, which makes his story one of the most quietly remarkable in any celebrity family background.
After Jesse graduated from Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1998, Reginald moved to northern Maine and began his history teaching career there.
Jesse Williams has said that baseball played a meaningful role in his relationship with his father and brothers during childhood. The family drew life lessons from the game and used it as a bonding activity throughout Jesse’s formative years.
Reginald’s influence on Jesse’s career is also visible in Jesse’s own teaching history. Jesse taught at public high schools in Philadelphia for six years, covering American Studies, African American history, and English, before transitioning to acting in 2005.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Reginald Williams?
Reginald Williams is an American history teacher and the father of actor and activist Jesse Williams. He is originally from Georgia and is African American with Seminole ancestry. He began his career as a factory worker, later attended Harvard, and built a career in education as a history teacher in northern Maine.
Is Reginald Williams Jesse Williams’ biological father?
Yes. Reginald Williams is the biological father of Jesse Williams. Jesse’s mother is Johanna Chase, a Swedish-American professional potter and art teacher. Jesse is biracial, identifying as both Black and white.
What does Reginald Williams do for a living?
Reginald Williams worked as a factory worker early in his life before putting himself through Harvard. He later became a history teacher and taught in northern Maine. Most of his professional life focused on education and raising his family.
Who are Jesse Williams’ parents?
Jesse Williams’ parents are Reginald Williams, an African American history teacher originally from Georgia, and Johanna Chase, a Swedish American ceramics artist and art teacher. Both parents significantly shaped Jesse’s worldview, activism, and career choices.
What is the cast of Hotel Costiera?
Hotel Costiera stars Jesse Williams as Daniel De Luca alongside Maria Chiara Giannetta, Jordan Alexandra, Antonio Gerardi, Sam Haygarth, Tommaso Ragno, Amanda Campana, Pierpaolo Spollon, Alejandra Onieva, and Jean-Hugues Anglade. The six-episode series premiered on Prime Video on September 24, 2025.
