For her first appearance on a sitcom, Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams didn’t exactly choose the easiest role.
Williams, who begins a three-episode arc on UPN’s “Half & Half” Monday (8:30 p.m., WPWR-Ch. 50), will be balancing silly and serious in playing Naomi Dawson, a record executive who, viewers will eventually discover, is HIV-positive. Despite the tricky balance she had to strike, Williams came away from the experience hungry for more.
“It was so much fun. I love it when work is fun,” says Williams, whose acting experience also includes “Aida” on Broadway. “I fell in love doing TV. So I want to do some more sitcoms — hopefully some more `Half & Half.'”
Viewers may not immediately fall in love with Williams’ character on “Half & Half” — she’s a professional rival of Mona (Rachel True), and their interaction is prickly at best. Yet Mona’s co-worker and friend Andre (Chico Benymon) sees something in her, and they end up spending a low-key Valentine’s Day together.
The following two episodes find Naomi first struggling to keep her HIV-positive status a secret from Andre and the two of them dealing with it together.
Williams says she hopes that her “Half & Half” episodes show viewers that “just because you have these heavy issues, it doesn’t mean you cannot laugh. In fact, you should laugh, you should smile.” The show’s writers worked with KNOW HIV/AIDS, an awareness group sponsored in part by UPN owner CBS Corp., in crafting the story line.
“Just know that if you do have a life-threatening disease, it doesn’t have to be the end-all, be-all,” she adds. “[Naomi] feels a little upset because she’s used to getting (negative) reactions from people. Then she finds someone who wanted to love her for her. I think God always sends you an angel during rough times.”
Now that she has caught the sitcom bug, Williams is planning to spend some time in Los Angeles during pilot season, reading scripts and trying to land a few auditions (she already has one lined up for a feature film). She’s also set to record a solo album now that Destiny’s Child has decided to split.
She says she’ll definitely miss working with Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, but the three remain close — and Williams doesn’t rule out the possibility of a reunion.
“We’ll still do some performances together, if it’s meaningful,” she says.