Being nude on stage is a scary proposition.
“I was terrified,” Jesse Williams tells Page Six exclusively of stripping down in “Take Me Out” for his Broadway debut, “but then I noted that that was what I asked God for. I asked to be terrified. I asked to do something that was scary and challenging and made me earn it and made me feel alive and not comfortable.”
Williams, 41, announced in May 2021 that he was exiting “Grey’s Anatomy” after 12 seasons of playing Dr. Jackson Avery. He now stars in the revival of the 2002 play as Darren Lemming, a baseball player who recently came out as gay.
The actor — who has nothing to be shy about down below, as Page Six saw a performance of “Take Me Out” — also confesses to being “a little nervous” making his stage debut, though he uses it to his advantage.
“Honestly, I just make that excitement. I don’t let it settle. I know it’s going to be fine. I just have to believe that and lean forward,” he says. “Having said that, I’m incredibly humble about the whole thing. I have no business being here. I’ve never done this before.
“I’ve never done a three-act play before in my life. I just have respect and gratitude for the opportunity to try something on this level. It’s wild to me.”
Before becoming an actor, Williams taught high school in the Philadelphia public school system for six years. He now uses his teacher tools on stage.
“They’re very similar,” he explains. “You have to hold the attention of a group of people that don’t necessarily want to be there and keep them engaged and stimulated. [It’s a] very similar skill set.”