Oprah Winfrey Show Star Akili McDowell Charged With Murder

Akili McDowell, guest actor in the series with Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis Billions and the star of the series produced by Oprah Winfrey David makes the manhas been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 20-year-old Texas man, according to local Houston news outlet KHOU11.

On July 20, via Twitter/X, the Harris County Sheriff reported that an unarmed adult male had been found dead from gunshot wounds at a Houston apartment complex, and that a suspect had fled the scene. Over the weekend, the post was updated to indicate that McDowell, 21, had been arrested in connection with the man’s death and was being held on $400,000 bail.

No additional details, such as motive or any other information about McDowell’s connection to the dead man, have been released. Witnesses reported that the dead man had already been in a dispute with another man before he was shot, according to AP.

McDowell appeared in two episodes of Billions as Savion Williams, a young teenager who lives in Bobby Axelrod’s childhood home, before playing the lead role in the well-received David makes the manwhich aired for two seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network, from 2019 to 2021.

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The series was created by screenwriter and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, who won an Oscar in 2017 for writing the film. MoonlightIn addition to Oprah Winfrey, actor Michael B. Jordan also served as a producer on David makes the man.

Oprah Winfrey interviewed McDowell for OWN TV early in the series, which follows the young prodigy’s character as he tries to improve his situation and escape his neighborhood. McDowell echoed many of the show’s inspiring themes in his own responses during the interview. “You can become somebody,” he said during the 2019 interview, “You don’t have to settle for what everybody thinks you’re going to become.”

From David makes the man had been off the air, McDowell had been performing and promoting his other projects via Instagram as recently as the day after the Texas man was found shot to death.