Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.
Hugh Jackman is trying to help locate missing Broadway dancer Zelig Williams.
On Thursday, Jackman shared a post to his Instagram stories (now since expired) boosting the search for Williams, who has been missing since Oct. 3.
"Please ... if anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of Zelig Williams, please reach out to your local authorities," Jackman wrote, alongside an image of Williams. "Zelig we love you and are praying for your safe return. Please pass this message on!!!"
Williams and Jackman worked together back in 2019 on The Greatest Showman's The Man, The Music, The Show tour. The dancer was also a member of the Hamilton ensemble on Broadway for a little over five months, beginning in October 2016. Additionally, Williams appeared as a member of the original cast of MJ: The Musical in several roles, including those of Marlon Jackson and James Brown. Other credits include Spirited.
The 28-year-old dancer was last seen at his home in Columbia, S.C., on Thursday, Oct. 3, according to PEOPLE. Williams had returned to his hometown to work as a dance teacher. He was reported missing on Oct. 4. An incident report notes that Williams' mother told police he left home around 9 a.m. on Oct. 3 and had not been heard from in over 24 hours. She described the lack of communication as "out of character," also stressing that Williams would be in need of prescription medication.
The Richland County Sheriff's Department says Williams was last seen near Congaree National Park in South Carolina. His car was later recovered in that area on the Palmetto Trail, a 500-mile stretch that runs across an entire state.
According to reports, Williams' family initially feared that he was involved in a car accident. This was due to an SOS alert from his phone indicating a crash, which was received by a friend in New York. The ping came in within 10 minutes of Williams' departure from his house. When his car was discovered, there was no evidence of a crash.
The search remains ongoing. 'We've searched on foot [and] in the air of various locations," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told WIS10, "Other investigative techniques that we will use involving cell phones and some other things that I don't want to discuss at this point."
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Although this disappearance is still officially a missing person case, Sheriff Lott confirmed to PEOPLE that investigators believe there is a possibility of foul play.
Anyone who may have seen Williams or anyone with information is urged to call the Richland County Sheriff's Department at (803) 576-3000 or contact Crime Stoppers at crimesc.com.
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FZelig-Williams-Hugh-Jackman-101123-6cd7f3783d6046f99e47bf0e6d7b6ce1.jpg&w=3840&q=75)