Williams was born on December 19, 1968, in Missouri and spent the first 25 years of his life in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where his father was the director of Counselling Services at the University of Waterloo.

[1] Williams graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Fine Arts[2] and then enrolled in the animation program at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario.

[1] Williams previously worked in the story department for Mulan (1998), The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Frozen (2013), in which he also voiced the character Oaken.

In February 2007, it was announced he would direct American Dog,[3] which was re-titled Bolt (2008) and was later joined by Byron Howard, both of them replaced Chris Sanders who was the original director.

[5][6][7] However, in 2012, it was revealed that Williams had joined another Walt Disney Animation film, Big Hero 6, as a co-director inspired by the Marvel Comics of the same name.