Brandon Tyler Williams (credited as Brandon Tyler) (Born August 23, 1982) is a former actor, as well as a former Student Ambassador to the United Kingdom. His heritage includes German, English, Welsh and Native American (Cherokee and Blackfoot) bloodlines.

Biography

Early Life

Brandon was born and raised in Spokane, WA until the age of two, where he moved to Missoula, Montana. Nearly a year later, his father, Steve, found a better paying job back in their hometown of Spokane shortly after the birth of Brandon's sister, Melisa Evelyn Williams. Brandon and Melisa were raised in Liberty Lake, WA. He is the son of Lauri and Steve Williams.

Despite having a very loving family, Brandon's mother, Lauri, was troubled with many health problems while he was in his youth. Unknowingly epileptic, Lauri had her first grand mal seizure when Brandon and his sister were still in early elementary school. Lauri had one more grand mal seizure, and a series of four brain surgeries to correct the cavernous malformations and to possibly rid her of her epilepsy. In caring for Brandon's mother, his father, Steve was layed-off from his job, and the family relied on support from friends, school teachers, and loving members of the Spokane community. Steve found work soon after as a car salesman at Honda of Spokane, and the situation motivated him to becoming one of the most awarded salesmen in the dealership to this day.

At an early age Brandon showed aptitude in music. He taught himself music theory directly through observation, as well as the guitar by the age of 10. He now plays the many forms of guitar, percussion, the recorder flute, trombone and baritone. He is also a composer of sorts, utilizing digital programs such as Reason3, and FL Studio to conduct his works.

According to firsthand stories from Brandon, the social aspects of school were never apparently easy for him to grasp. While he had few friends, he had more enemies from elementary to high school. Brandon was recruited by some talent scouts from New York Model Contracts (NYMC) to come to Seattle, WA to meet with some producers, agents, and talent managers while he was still in Junior High School. As his entertainment opportunities grew, his desire to escape the depressing (and oftentimes violent) society that had enveloped him in school had reached its threshold. He began moving to Los Angeles for television pilot season every year for three months at a time while maintaining correspondence school in Spokane, WA. He graduated in 2000 from Central Valley High School in Veradale, WA.

Career

Brandon's initial exposure to being in front of the camera (aside from various local commercials he did for Spokane) was when he was cast as new recruit for the movie The Postman. Soon after, he was cast as the grown Philip Robert Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives. His three year contract was cut short after eight weeks due to "conflicting character story lines", however was replaced the next day by Jay Kenneth Johnson. It was rumored that the supervising executive producer, Stephen Wyman adamantly disliked Brandon for various personal reasons, and was rumored to have attempted on a few occasions to "sabotage" his performances by providing Brandon with immense amounts of material with very little time to study the content. Brandon once had said, "He gave me eighteen pages last night at 9pm for tomorrow morning's scenes... one page of which is an entire monologue. This guy really has it out for me." This is all speculation, however, and the real reason for Brandon's dismissal from the show will never be known.

Soon after, Brandon booked the role of Vic Henry in the made for TV movie Rockets Red Glare, starring Robert Wagner. He also performed in ten episodes of MTV's Undressed season 3.

Brandon had various other appearances in shows such as 7th Heaven, The Gilmore Girls, etc. Arguably, his most memorable role was when Brandon played Brian in the movie Winning London. After a grueling audition process, Brandon then followed the Olson Twins on to their new show, So Little Time as the character of Travis Morgan for three episodes.

It is unclear what happened to Brandon's acting career after So Little Time. Many claim that he was unhappy with his agency, The House of Representatives, because they would continually send him on auditions that were completely out of sync for the roles he had, and should have been submitted for. After numerous meetings with his agents, and their refusal to comply with his requests of going on more "potentially fruitful" auditions, Brandon refused to go to any more meetings except meetings that were direct to producer. Some claim that when joining Brandon on auditions, they were astounded to see the entire room reading for the same role, yet the role was for a 12 year old African-American, or an overweight 45 year old Hispanic man. Brandon claimed seven out of ten auditions The House of Representatives sent him on were similar to that, and claimed he felt embarrassed when casting directors would ask, "Why are you here?". At just 19 years old, Brandon was sent to audition for the role of Rory's father, Christopher Hayden (played by David Sutcliffe) in The Gilmore Girls. Brandon's frustration grew to the point of anger, and stopped going to auditions all together. His management company, Hines and Hunt, refused to place Brandon with a more savvy agency, despite inquiries from more reputable talent agencies. The straw had broken the camels back, and Brandon decided his career in acting would have to be put on hiatus.

In 2003, Brandon and two of his roommates started Clockwork Productions, a venue coordination/event planning service. They promoted and threw many parties, their most notable being Eminem's record release party for Encore at The Highlands on Hollywood and Highland. Brandon inevitably became tired of the Hollywood scene around 2005, and forfeited his position to his partners. Soon after, Clockwork Productions fizzled out.

Brandon has had hands in various ventures over the years, such as P.E.K.O. (Providing Entertainment and Knowledge for Others), a dynamic digital signage company. As the senior creative director and partial owner, it was Brandon's responsibility to assess the companies faults and provide dynamic, responsive solutions in order to bring profits to the failing company. The majority interest holder, Floyd Mitchell, sold 51% of the company to an outside party, leaving Brandon and his partner with no executive power, and left the company a few weeks later.

Brandon is currently a children's snowboard instructor at Big Bear Mountain and Resort in Big Bear Lake, CA.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title
! Role
! Year
|-
| The Postman
| Postal Recruit
| 1997
|-
| Days of Our Lives
| Philip Robert Kiriakis
| 1999
|-
| Rockets Red Glare
| Vic Henry
| 2000
|-
| 7th Heaven
| Lucy's Lab partner
| 2000
|-
| Undressed
| Mitch
| 2000
|-
| Gilmore Girls
| Madeline's boyfriend
| 2000
|-
| Winning London
| Brian Conners
| 2000
|-
| So Little Time
| Travis Morgan
| 2001
|}

References

Internet Movie Database

Children of Salem