Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech visiting instructor Michael Anthony Williams has a small role in “The Brave One,” starring Jodie Foster. He said is dream is to be the co-lead with Samuel L. Jackson in a feature film.

BLACKSBURG -- For professional actor and Virginia Tech visiting instructor Michael Anthony Williams, this weekend's release of "The Brave One" starring Jodie Foster will be what he calls a "breakthrough" in his career.

It is his first speaking role in a Hollywood film, after years of blending into the background as an extra.

But the film could also mark a breakthrough for Virginia Tech, as Williams hopes to use the attention he's gaining in the industry to recruit students to the school's theater program.

"I think the best thing about pursuing my career while teaching here is, if things go well, it makes me more visible and makes students want to come to Virginia Tech," he said.

In "The Brave One," Williams plays a nameless father figure who is assaulted on the subway. Scheduled to be released Friday, the movie takes place in New York City and follows the story of Erica Bain (Foster) who experiences a random, violent attack that kills her fiance and nearly kills her.

Williams got the part in May 2006 after his New York-based manager, Tsu Tsu Stanton, recommended that he audition. Filming began in July 2006.

Williams said his baby face, along with his ability to grow a full white beard, has allowed him to play diverse roles on stage. Though he is 47 years old, he has played characters between 28 and 65 years old.

"The Brave One" marks the second movie he's been in with Foster. In 1997, he played an extra in "Contact." He was pleased when Foster remembered him from the first movie, and said he hopes that his name will become even more known in the film community.

But the road to stardom hasn't been easy. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Williams was the smart athlete who should have been a lawyer. Or at least that's how his parents saw him. He attended Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he majored in sociology and economics and minored in theater. His parents didn't want him to pursue theater fully because it lacked job safety or security, he said.

But, he added with a chuckle, "I've always been on my own path."

After college, Williams moved to Boston and worked for several nonprofits that sought to help underprivileged children. Although he enjoyed his work, his love was theater. When he was 28, he quit his job, sold his stuff and dropped off his then-girlfriend in New York for law school.

He headed to Chicago, where the Second City theater group was becoming a phenomenon. The comedic and improvisational theater has been the starting place for such famous names as Bill Murray and John Belushi. But it was hard for Williams to break in at first.

"It was humbling because I wasn't making any money, and initially I couldn't get in, and I'm used to succeeding," he said. But effort paid off, and he made contacts that won him a touring gig with the group.

From there, Williams went on to perform with theater groups in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

Williams came to Virginia Tech in February, after theater arts department head Patricia Raun contacted him about starring in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," an August Wilson play put on by the School of the Arts this summer.

At the time, Williams was starring in another Wilson play, "Jitney," at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. He didn't have any gigs for the summer, so he accepted Raun's offer. He moved to Blacksburg with wife, Mariana, and daughter, Margarita.

Now calling himself "a member of the Hokie family," he said he plans to stay as long as the university will have him.

He and local cinematographer Paul Harrill have discussed collaborating in the future.

"I'm really excited about him being here and having a person like him to work with creatively in Blacksburg," Harrill said. "He's going to be a great contribution to the university."

Williams has every intention of making a large contribution.

"I want to work really hard to make this the most prolific theater program in the country," he said, adding that, typically theater programs at New York University, Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State have earned that reputation.

But Williams said he doesn't see any reason why the Virginia Tech theater community couldn't also make a big name for itself. "This university attracts smart students."