At just the tender age of 4, William was already an outgoing, outspoken, and outstanding child. One of William’s first opportunities was as an extra on the hit series “Fatal Attraction.” After three days of production, it was clear that William was a star at being in front of the camera and memorizing his lines. The young actor would soon take private lessons at Catapult Acting Studios for four years.
Dr. Charis Trench-Simmons recalls her son being responsible for getting his acting career off the ground.
“We were sitting at Catapult, waiting on a class to start… William is kind of an old soul, so he just started talking to a lady who came in, and she ended up being an L.A. casting agent! So from there, she recommended us to our current Atlanta agent… and he’s just taken off from there,” says Charis. William is currently 8 years old and working with STW Talent.
William gushed about the opportunity to meet new people and work with the cast and crew on set. Charis mentions being “amazed” at “how you can take several hours of filming different takes and put them into a TV show or a movie,” and watching her son be a part of that process has made her proud.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has had its drawbacks on the entertainment industry in the past two years, but William, his family, and his agent were not discouraged about this young man’s talent and got involved with plenty of alternatives in the process. William’s mother mentions how mature he was about understanding how coronavirus would affect his auditions and the production process in general but praised her son for how accustomed he had become to COVID-19 testing on set. Trench-Simmons also mentions how in the summer, training was virtual, giving William the opportunity to travel as auditions and callbacks came into play. He traveled with his mother to North Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
“I would prefer acting in Atlanta, but if I chose a state, it would probably be North Carolina… I did an audition for a roofing company, and I got to jump in a pool!” says William, who is clearly a child who knows how to adapt to situations very quickly. His mother mentions how much more difficult it’s been since the young actor has returned to in-person learning for school, but that he has done well with the routine of being picked up from school and learning lines in the car on their way to auditions.
“As long as he enjoys it, my husband and I are all for it,” says Charis, married to proud dad Dr. Lorenzo Simmons.
William was very excited to have his friends watch him in the movie “Respect” during a private screening, where he plays one of the late Aretha Franklin’s sons, Clarence. Charis and William recall the best part of production was working with Jennifer Hudson, who was very “down-to-earth.” In one scene, one of the other actors called William by his real name and not his character’s name and William’s response to the mistake was, “Oh no! We gotta do that again! She called me William!”
Outside of school and acting, William likes to talk about his love of sports and his PlayStation. He plays on his school’s basketball team and participates in practices every weekend. In the future, William hopes to one day work with Michael B. Jordan, as well as eventually act on sitcoms on Nickelodeon. For now, William will soon be featured in an upcoming project called "First Looks," which will also include Method Man.