Star of Oprah-Produced Show Charged With Murder

Akili McDowell, a guest actor on the Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis series Billions and star of the Oprah Winfrey-produced David Makes Man, has been charged with murder following the shooting death of a 20-year-old Texas man, according to local Houston outlet KHOU11.

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

Further details, such as motive or any other information about McDowell’s connection to the deceased male have not been released. Witnesses reported that the deceased man had previously been having a disagreement with another man before he was shot, according to AP.

McDowell appeared in two episodes of Billions as Savion Williams, a young teenage boy who lives in Bobby Axelrod’s childhood home, before going on to star in the titular role of the well-received David Makes Man, which ran for two seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network, from 2019 to 2021.

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

Oprah interviewed McDowell for OWN TV early on in the series, which follows the young prodigy character as he tries to improve his circumstances and escape his neighborhood. McDowell echoed many of the show’s inspirational themes in his own responses during the sit-down. “You can be something,” he said in the 2019 interview, “You don’t have to settle for what everybody may think you’re gonna be.”

Since David Makes Man had been off air, McDowell had been acting in and promoting his other projects via Instagram, as recently as the day after the Texas man had been found shot.