Amber Shana Williams on Style Between Continents, The Chosen Season 6 and What Comes Next

Amber Shana Williams, fan favorite Tamar on The Chosen, opens up about a style shaped by more than a decade in Spain, the responsibility of her role, Season 6 and the grittier work she wants next.

Amber Shana Williams has spent years bringing Tamar to life on The Chosen, the global series that returns for Season 6 exclusively on Prime Video on November 15, with the season finale on December 6. The season carries the show into its final chapter ahead of a standalone theatrical finale in spring 2027.

Off screen, Amber Shana Williams has built a point of view that reaches well beyond one role. She lived in Spain for more than ten years before building her career in the United States, and that time abroad still shapes how she dresses, how she rests and how she chooses the stories she wants to tell. Bacon Magazine spoke with her about all of it.

Style Found Between Continents

Living between Europe and America taught Amber Shana Williams to dress for herself first. She says Spain did not change her wardrobe as much as it changed the way she wore it.

“The style there is quieter. People dress for comfort and simplicity, and they wear it with total confidence,” she says. “Meanwhile, I was the one showing up to a casual lunch looking like I had a press junket or red carpet afterward. I was often overdressed, and honestly I liked it that way. Dress for yourself first and let the room adjust.”

Back in the States, she kept a little of that European ease and paired it with her love of a moment. “Now I’m somewhere in between. Comfortable, but always a little extra.” Her red carpet looks have lately leaned sensual and vintage, and off duty she likes to play with color and structure, a style that borrows Europe’s polish and America’s fearlessness.

Building Tamar With Care

Tamar is the only prominent Egyptian-Ethiopian character on The Chosen, and Amber Shana Williams says she felt the weight of that from day one. “I think I would rather feel that weight than take it lightly,” she says.

Much of her work went into understanding what it meant for a woman like Tamar to live in that world while carrying her own culture with her. Just as important, she wanted Tamar to be a whole person. “Representation fails when a character exists only to represent and nothing else,” she says. “Tamar is outspoken, funny, stubborn, devoted, a little impatient.”

The audience response has humbled her, especially from women who rarely see themselves in Biblical stories. “It changed quickly from ‘my job’ to ‘my responsibility,’ in the best possible way.”

Season 6: Tamar’s Heart Gets Tested

Without giving anything away, Amber Shana Williams says Season 6 asks everyone, Tamar included, what they are actually willing to give. “Faith is easy when things are going well. It’s a different conversation when the worst possible thing that could ever happen, happens,” she says. “Tamar has always led with her heart, and this season her heart gets tested. Bring tissues, and an emotional support friend.”

Self-Care on Her Own Terms

Amber Shana Williams manages an autoimmune disorder through movement, rest and what she calls “unorthodox” self-care. She says the reality is far less glamorous than people might think. “Some days it’s a workout, some days it’s a walk, and other days it’s me negotiating with my body to let me live in peace.”

A big part of that work was unlearning the idea that rest is laziness, a lesson echoed in Bacon’s guide to wellness habits for women building a business. “Maybe the unorthodox part is that I let my self-care each day reflect where I am mentally and emotionally,” she says. “I used to push through everything. Now I listen sooner, which means I get to keep showing up for the things I love. Sometimes the boundaries we most need to respect are our own.”

I’ve spent years playing the good girl. I’m ready to be the complicated one.

Amber Shana Williams

What Comes Next for Amber Shana Williams

Playing a character defined by grace has been a blessing, she says, but it has also come with unrealistic expectations of her as a person. Next, she wants roles with more edge.

“I’d love to play a woman who makes terrible decisions and has to work her way through the very human experience of living with the consequences,” Amber Shana Williams says. “I’d love to play someone who may live in the morally gray area. A character whose decisions you argue about on the drive home.”

More from Bacon: Ms. Pat Gets Real: An Exclusive Look Inside Ms. American Dream and Sarah-Jane Crawford Is Bringing Clean Haircare to the Masses With Clean Curls.

Photography: Jonny Marlow
Style: Anna Schilling
Hair: LaRae Burress
Makeup: Dion Xu