Jama Williamson
Encyclopedia
Jama Williamson is an American actress. She was active in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 theater throughout the early 2000s, during which she appeared in such shows as Avery Crozier's Eat the Runt, Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl, A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney is an American playwright and novelist. He is known for works including Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour, and The Dining Room. Gurney currently lives in both New York and Connecticut....

's Sylvia
Sylvia (play)
Sylvia is a play about a dog, the couple who adopts her,and the drama that results. It was written by A. R. Gurney and first produced in 1995....

and Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa is a playwright.He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School between 1989 and 1991. His first play, Table for One, opened at the Hen and Chickens Theatre on 6 November 2001...

's Losing Louis
Losing Louis
Simon Mendes da Costa's play, Losing Louis, is a black comedy, first premiered at Hampstead Theatre on the 26th January 2005 and later transferred to Trafalgar Studios...

. She also appeared in an Off Broadway musical adaptation of the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas
Debbie Does Dallas
Debbie Does Dallas is a 1978 pornographic film starring Bambi Woods. The plot of the film focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas, to try out for the famous “Texas Cowgirls” cheerleading squad. The fictional name "Texas...

, and she is featured in the show's original cast recording soundtrack.

Williamson has appeared in such shows as Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

, Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...

and Chapelle's Show, and her voice was featured in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

. In 2005, Williamson was cast as the wife of James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...

 in the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 sitcom pilot Three, which was ultimately not picked up. Since 2009, she has made regular guest appearances on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 comedy series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...

as Wendy Haverford, the ex-wife of regular character Tom Haverford
Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...

, played by Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation....

.

Theater career

Jama Williamson was active in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 theater throughout the early 2000s, during which time she was represented by the Paradigm Talent Agency
Paradigm Talent Agency
Paradigm is a full service entertainment agency based in Beverly Hills, with offices in New York, Monterey and Nashville, and is considered be one of the "Big Five" US talent agencies...

. In 2000, she appeared in Eat the Runt, a comedy by Avery Crozier about a job applicant's series of bizarre interviews at an art museum. During this production, by Mefisto Theater Company at Altered Stages, the actors had to be prepared to play every role in the play and, before each show, the audience Drew tickets which determined what actors play which characters. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

reviewer Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Van Gelder is an American journalist and instructor in journalism who has worked at several different New York City-based newspapers in his long career. Until 2010 he was senior editor of the Arts and Leisure weekly section of The New York Times...

 said the gimmick was novel, but in the end, "the cast has probably had more sustained fun than the audience". In the summer of 2001, Williamson again appeared in Eat the Runt again at The American Place Theatre
The American Place Theatre
The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, far west on 46th Street in New York City and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennessee Williams and Myrna Loy were two of the original Board members...

, this time without the constant role switching. She played a second applicant trying to get the museum job, who claims the protagonist is actually her scorned love interest who is only pretending to seek the job in order to hurt her chances. In the summer of 2002, she appeared in an Off Broadway production of Hunt Holman's Spanish Girl at the Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...

. The show was about a college student who had a summer fling relationship with a 15-year-old girl, then tries to end it. Williamson played Jolene, the strong-willed college girlfriend of the protagonist, who does not know about his affair. New York Daily News writer Robert Dominguez praised her "strong performance". Marjorie Gunner of New York Voice called Williamson a scene-stealer, and said she played the role "like the center of gravity".

Jama Williamson appeared in the 2002 Off Broadway stage musical adaption of the 1978 pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas
Debbie Does Dallas
Debbie Does Dallas is a 1978 pornographic film starring Bambi Woods. The plot of the film focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas, to try out for the famous “Texas Cowgirls” cheerleading squad. The fictional name "Texas...

, which was shown at the Jane Street Theater
Jane Street Theater
The Jane is a boutique hotel located at 505-507 West Street, with its main entrance at 113 Jane Street in the West Village section of the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City....

 starting October 2002. She played Roberta, one of Debbie's attractive young friends who perform sexual services for money. Williamson, along with other female members of the cast, was praised by The New York Times theater critic Bruce Weber as "for lack of a better word, adorable", and appeared to be "having great fun while they wait for better jobs". During the show, she performs a sexually-themed duet called "Make That Candle Work for You", in which Roberta and her boss sing at the candle store where Roberta works. During the song, girls dance with candels shaped like erect penises. The song was sung by Williamson in the Debbie Does Dallas Original Cast Recording soundtrack, which was released on compact disc in 2003. Her singing voice, along with those of the rest of the cast, was praised in a Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

review. From October to November 2003, Williamson played the title role in Sylvia
Sylvia (play)
Sylvia is a play about a dog, the couple who adopts her,and the drama that results. It was written by A. R. Gurney and first produced in 1995....

, a comedy by A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney
A. R. Gurney is an American playwright and novelist. He is known for works including Love Letters, The Cocktail Hour, and The Dining Room. Gurney currently lives in both New York and Connecticut....

, at Playhouse on the Green in Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...

, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. The show was about a dog (played by a human) named Sylvia who is adopted by a couple, which creates drama in their relationship. Irene Backalenick of the Connecticut Post
Connecticut Post
The Connecticut Post is a daily newspaper located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It serves the greater Bridgeport area, Fairfield County, and the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Municipalities in the Post's circulation area include Bridgeport, Ansonia,...

said of Williamson's performance, "Jama Williamson is just not doggy enough, playing it more like a petulant teen-ager. She is really convincing as Sylvia the dog only when she lies down, putting her chin on Greg's knee."

Starting in October 2006, Williamson played Bella Holland, the office assistant and mistress of a married man, in a production of the English Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa
Simon Mendes da Costa is a playwright.He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School between 1989 and 1991. His first play, Table for One, opened at the Hen and Chickens Theatre on 6 November 2001...

 play Losing Louis
Losing Louis
Simon Mendes da Costa's play, Losing Louis, is a black comedy, first premiered at Hampstead Theatre on the 26th January 2005 and later transferred to Trafalgar Studios...

, which played at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...

. The show opened with a controversial scene in which the protagonist performs oral sex on Williamson's character while his six-year-old son hides under the bed. The show received largely negative reviews, Williamson herself received mixed critiques. The New York Times writer Charles Isherwood said Williamson was one of the stronger cast members, but added, "the actors cannot do much to freshen the coarse innuendoes or breathe life into the plot contrivances". Elysa Gardner, of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, said Williamson added "dynamic support" to the show. North Jersey Media Group
North Jersey Media Group
North Jersey Media Group is a newspaper publishing and media firm serving northern New Jersey and headquartered in Hackensack, with a second office in Woodland Park . The firm, owned by the Borg family, publishes The Herald News, which covers Passaic County, out of West Paterson and the state's...

 critic Robert Feldberg, who was critical of the show, said her performance was amateurish and reminded him of "middling community theater." However, Feldberg said other more experienced actors were similarly bad in the show, so Williamson's faults can be blamed in part on the director. Back Stage
Back Stage
Back Stage is an entertainment-industry brand aimed at people working in film and the performing arts, with a special focus on casting, job opportunities, and career advice.Back Stage publishes a weekly tabloid-sized trade magazine in the U.S...

said Williamson and other cast members "fail to register in any credible way".

Television career

Williamson has appeared in several television shows, including the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 legal drama Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

and the Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 sketch comedy series Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedian Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22,...

, starring Dave Chapelle. She also appeared as a jogger in the 2005 independent comedy drama film Duane Hopwood
Duane Hopwood
Duane Hopwood is a 2005 film featured in the Sundance Film Festival. It stars David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo, and includes John Krasinski, Judah Friedlander, Susan Lynch, Dick Cavett, Rachel Covey, and Mia Dillon...

, and provided voices for pedestrian characters in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...

. Starting in the mid-2005s, Williamson began appearing more frequently in television. In 2005, Williamson was cast as one of the three leads in a CBS Paramount Network Television
CBS Paramount Network Television
CBS Paramount Network Television was the main production arm of CBS Paramount Television, a division of CBS Corporation. It was known as Paramount Network Television and CBS Productions until 2006.It is now CBS Television Studios, starting in fall 2009....

 pilot for the sitcom Three, in which she played Annie, the wife of a character played by James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek, Jr. is an American television, film, and stage actor, known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in The WB series Dawson's Creek...

. The show revolved around the happily married couple and their recently divorced male friend, played by Zachary Levi
Zachary Levi
Zachary Levi Pugh , better known by his stage name Zachary Levi , is an American television actor, director, and singer known for the roles of Kipp Steadman in Less than Perfect, Chuck Bartowski in Chuck, and Flynn Rider in Tangled.- Early life :Zachary Levi Pugh was born in Lake Charles,...

. The pilot was never sold.

In early 2007, Williamson gave an appearance in a pilot episode of the sitcom Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement (TV series)
Rules of Engagement is a sitcom that debuted on CBS on February 5, 2007, as a midseason replacement, immediately following Two and a Half Men, in the time slot that was occupied by now-cancelled The New Adventures of Old Christine...

. Although the series was picked up by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, the episode featuring Williamson never aired. Williamson appeared in "Democracy
Democracy (Numb3rs)
"Democracy" is the 18th episode of the third season of the American television show Numb3rs. Written by Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci, the episode highlights a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation into the murder of one of their math consultant's friends while an agent learns that...

", a third season episode of the CBS drama series Numb3rs
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...

, which originally aired on March 9, 2007. In the episode, she played Jane Aliano, a woman who gets kidnapped as the result of a voter fraud conspiracy that led to a series of murders throughout the episode.

Starting in May 2009, Williamson began making regular appearances in the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...

as Wendy Haverford, the wife of regular character Tom Haverford
Tom Haverford
Thomas Montgomery "Tom" Haverford , born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, is a fictional character in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation. He is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee who is revered for his high levels of swagger and unmatched entrepreneurial skills...

, played by Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. He currently stars as Tom Haverford on the NBC show Parks and Recreation....

. Wendy is an attractive and well-liked surgeon, and many in the show wonder why she is interested in the sarcastic and overeager Tom. It is eventually revealed the two characters have a green card marriage
Green card marriage
Green card marriage is a neologism that refers to the phenomenon of a marriage of convenience between a legal resident of a country and a person who would be ineligible for residency but for being married to a resident.-Description:...

 to prevent Wendy from being deported to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Williamson first appeared in the first season
Parks and Recreation (season 1)
The first season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network between April 9 and May 14, 2009...

 finale "Rock Show
Rock Show (Parks and Recreation)
"Rock Show" is the sixth episode and season finale of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009. It was written by Norm Hiscock and directed by Michael Schur...

", but made regular appearances throughout the second season
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...

. Wendy and Tom amicably separate after the December 2009 episode "Tom's Divorce
Tom's Divorce
"Tom's Divorce" is the eleventh episode of the second season of American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the seventeenth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on December 3, 2009. In the episode, Tom gets a divorce and Leslie tries to...

", but she continued to make appearances afterward.

External links

  • Jama Williamson at TV.com
    TV.com
    TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...

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