William Jackson Harper

William Fitzgerald Harper (born February 8, 1980), known professionally as William Jackson Harper, is an American actor and playwright. He gained acclaim for his role as Chidi Anagonye in the NBC comedy series The Good Place (2016–2020), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Harper started his career as a main cast member of the PBS Kids Go! series The Electric Company (2009–2011). As a playwright, he wrote We Live Here (2010) and Travisville (2018). He made his Broadway acting debut portraying civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael in the play All the Way (2013). Harper's other notable roles on stage include Romeo & Juliet (2012), After the Blast (2017), and Primary Trust (2023). For his role as Astrov in the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of Uncle Vanya (2024) he earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He has starred in the Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad (2020), the second season of the HBO Max comedy series Love Life (2021), and in the Peacock comedy mystery series The Resort (2022). Harper has taken supporting roles in films such as Paterson (2016), Midsommar (2019), and Dark Waters (2019). He portrayed Quaz in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).