In addition to his roles in the films Ride, Paradise Club, The Fortune Series and Lloyd the Conqueror, many viewers will recognize Williams from his leading role as Kelly Ashoona on seasons eight and nine of the hit television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.
The show, which began airing on Canada's CTV back in 2001, is currently on its 14th season and has received an impressive six awards from the Directors Guild of Canada and nine Gemini Awards, as well as three Primetime Emmy nominations and countless others.
In the show, Williams demonstrates his sweet and lovable side as Kelly, a boy-next-door character who becomes the love interest of the show's leading lady Emma Nelson played by Miriam McDonald (Wolves, Lost Girl, Pecola, Devil's Diary, Blue Murder, She's Too Young).
Williams took on the role of Kelly Ashoona once again in the 2009 film Degrassi Goes Hollywood, which followed the show's leading cast members to Los Angeles where several of them attempt to fulfill their dreams of stardom.
After making his name and face known to fans of the hit teen drama series set in the "Degrassi" universe, Williams went on to be cast in the starring role of Baxter McNab, the title character in the series Baxter.
A half-hour live action comedy series that was produced by Shaftesbury Films (Murdoch Mysteries, The Listener, Life with Derek, Dark Oracle) and aired on Canada's Family Channel, Baxter followed Williams' character and the show's supporting cast members as they attended the unique Northern Star School of the Arts, a high school where only the most talented individuals from various areas of the performing arts are accepted.
While the students at Northern Star School of the Arts portray a very different version of teen life on screen than most of us are used to with their over-the-top productions and the constant pressure to perform, Baxter McNab's talent isn't always enough to keep him out of trouble with his teachers. While McNab's irreverent style continually ruffled feathers, his comedic and light-hearted approach to life made the show a hilarious must watch.
"Being the title character of a television show was a challenge which I was happy to accept but one that I also had to work very hard to live up to, and I don’t mind saying it was difficult," recalls Williams. "It forced me to grow very quickly to deal with the added pressures of being the face of an enterprise of that size."
Although his extraordinary talent continues to turn heads, Williams remains a humble player in an industry that is, for the most part, dominated by oversized egos. For him, fame has been a mere side effect of doing something that he is passionate about, and doing it well.
He says, "I believe actors are instrumental in the dismantling of the colluded lie that we are all inherently alone. By telling stories that are effective at breaking through the chatter, we can make an audience feel themselves in the experience of others, and can awaken the empathy and a questioning of the status quo that is necessary to make the world a better place to live and to make our lives richer and more connected to each other."
Since the initial release of Baxter back in 2010, Williams' range and unparalleled skill as an actor has brought him to the forefront of the television industry.
Last year he took on the lead role of Luke on the fourth season of the People's Choice Award and Teen Choice Award winning MTV series Awkward, a teen comedy series that revolves around Jenna Hamilton, a high school outcast who rises in popularity after she gets into a fluke accident that is perceived as a suicide attempt.
Williams' character Luke enters the show as a highly intelligent older boy that Jenna meets during an overnight visit to a potential college. The two soon realize that their literary interests, along with many other things, are in line, and as the series progresses, so does Luke and Jenna's love story.
You can catch Evan Williams playing Luke in the fifth season of Awkward, which will begin airing on MTV on August 31 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The actor also just finished shooting the first season of the upcoming series Versailles, in Paris, France. The show, which is slated to air later this year, features Williams in the starring role of Chevalier.