The jazz bandleader Duke Ellington famously said that there are two rules in life: “Number one, never quit. Number two, never forget rule number one.” Those
William Stanford Davis attends the 57th NAACP Image Awards at the Pasadena Civic Center on February 28, 2026 in Pasadena, California. The jazz bandleader Duke Ellington famously said that there are two rules in life: “Number one, never quit.
Number two, never forget rule number one. ” Those words are the exact ones that the “Abbott Elementary” actor William Stanford Davis lives by and have defined his career. Davis plays Mr. Johnson, an eccentric custodian and substitute teacher, on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning comedy series about a group of Philadelphia public school teachers.
The release of the show’s fifth season, which finished airing on April 22, marks the biggest moment of Davis’ career — who recently won a 2026 NAACP Image Award for his role in the show — as he approaches his 75th birthday later this year. His story serves as a powerful reminder that success doesn’t follow a timeline, and that sometimes the biggest moments arrive later than expected.
“I think everything happens when it’s supposed to happen — it happens right on time,” Davis said. “‘Abbott Elementary’ is a part of the journey. It’s a breakout moment, and I’m enjoying every moment of it, and I’m hoping that there’s a lot more of the journey to go. ” Raised in St. Louis, Davis moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting in his thirties.
His first role came in 1995, when he was 43, playing a custodian on the CBS soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful. ” Nearly three decades later, he auditioned for and booked the pilot of “Abbott Elementary” — his first series regular role after over 100 credits across stage and screen. Although this career renaissance came later than Davis expected, he is enjoying every moment of it.
He can also be seen starring opposite Wanda Sykes in the boxing drama “Undercard” and in Apple TV+’s “Side Quest. ” “If ‘Abbott Elementary’ hadn’t happened, I still feel like I’ve had a good run and I’ve had a successful career, because I’ve worked a lot more than a lot of actors,” Davis said.
“It’s a tough job. ”And if it hadn’t been for Davis’ life experience, the role of Mr. Johnson would not have come alive in the same way. Davis said he drew inspiration for the role from his grandmother and the janitors he knew growing up.
“Every person that I’ve met in my life has kind of filled Mr. Johnson in one way or another,” Davis said. “I try to use every experience that I’ve had in my life to build to the sky. ” Especially in New York City, where so many young people feel pressured to make it early, Davis’ story proves that there is no deadline to success and that everything happens when it’s supposed to.
Davis reflected that if this success had happened earlier in his career, he thinks he would have “messed it up” and joked he would have done something ridiculous with the money. More than anything, Davis hopes his story inspires people of all ages on the way to greatness, and he is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of actors.
“Whatever your career is, you’re gonna have road blocks, you’re gonna have detours, you’re gonna have ups and downs, you’re gonna have days when you feel like you want to do something else,” Davis said. “But the thing is to just keep going. If this is your dream, why would you give up on that?
” If he could give any aspiring creatives advice, he said he would encourage them to do everything possible to study their craft and pass that knowledge on to others. He stressed the importance of not worrying about the result, saying that success will come as long as you do the work — “It may not come when you want it to come, but it will come. ” And his journey is still far from over.
“Abbott Elementary” was renewed for a sixth season, which will premiere this fall, and Davis is working on a book. “My book is entitled ‘I’m Just Getting Started,’ and that’s the way I feel about it,” Davis said. “I’ve always been a late bloomer, and they say that the late-blooming flowers last the longest.
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