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Billy Dee Williams

Billy Dee Williams

Acting • 1937-04-06 • New York City, New York, USA

William December "Billy Dee" Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor, artist, and singer. He is best known as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise, first in the early 1980s, and nearly forty years later in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), marking one of the longest intervals between onscreen portrayals of a character by the same actor in American film history. He made his film debut in 1959 in The Last Angry Man starring Paul Muni, in which he portrayed a juvenile delinquent. His first big break was in the acclaimed television movie, Brian's Song in which he played Gale Sayers. In 1972 he played Billie Holliday's husband Louis McKay in Motown Productions' Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues. Diana Ross starred in Lady Sings the Blues opposite Williams; Motown paired the two of them again three years later in Mahogany. His work has earned him numerous awards and honors including three NAACP Image Awards, and the NAACP Lifetime Achievement award. He was inducted into the Black Filmmaker's Hall of Fame in 1984, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985.

Known For

The Empire Strikes Back8.4

The Empire Strikes Back

1980

Return of the Jedi7.9

Return of the Jedi

1983

Batman7.2

Batman

1989

Nighthawks6.4

Nighthawks

1981

The Lego Batman Movie7.3

The Lego Batman Movie

2017

North and South7.5

North and South

1985

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Filmography