Afton Williamson

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Afton C. Williamson, born September 7, 1984, in Toledo, Ohio, is an American actress. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Williamson began on Broadway in 2010 as the understudy to Kerry Washington in Race, later taking over the role of Susan. She made her television debut on The Good Wife and went on to guest-star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, and Elementary. She had recurring roles on A Gifted Man (Autumn) and Nashville (Makena), and from 2014 to 2015 she was a regular on the Cinemax series Banshee. Her film debut was Pariah (2011). In 2016 she led the VH1 drama The Breaks and played Officer Wiggins in HBO’s The Night Of.

In 2018 she joined ABC’s The Rookie as LAPD officer Talia Bishop. In 2019 she left the show, citing racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and assault. TVLine initially reported a friendly departure, but Williamson said she left because of racially charged comments from the hair department and alleged sexual harassment by a guest star, as well as bullying that escalated to sexual assault at a party. She said she had reported these concerns to the showrunners, who denied the allegations.

An investigation by the law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp and EXTTI included nearly 400 hours of interviews and evidence review. The results, published September 17, 2019, found no merit to Williamson’s claims. Williamson said she stood by her allegations and called the findings heartbreaking.