Tim Williams(XLIV)
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
John Timothy Williams was born on February 9, 1960, in Fort Worth, Texas. The son of an engineer, Williams cut his teeth in film, making 8mm action shorts at 16. His first narrative short, The Break, a true story about a lost WWII fighter pilot, was picked up by PBS affiliate, KERA-TV in Dallas where it aired annually on Memorial Day. With film schools in short supply, Williams majored in business, then switched to journalism, theater, and English while excelling in football and track at Colorado State University and The University of Arizona. Upon graduation in 1983, he headed for Los Angeles to learn the film business from the ground up. He landed jobs as a P.A., grip, truck driver, and set dresser on commercials, television, and features. He also landed acting roles on Santa Barbara, Police Academy 2, and others while attending film school classes at USC Cinema-TV, and writing multiple screenplays. He returned to Texas in 1988 as a set dresser on Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July. In 1989, he began producing, writing, and directing commercials and short films. In 2009 and 2010, he wrote, produced, and directed a series of Tostitos commercials in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. His most recent short, The Colonel, starring Kevin Durand, won best narrative short at 2017's GI Film Festival. Williams is married with four children.