Vanessa Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today. She has conquered the musical charts, Broadway, music videos, television and motion pictures. She has sold millions of albums worldwide and has achieved critical acclaim as an actress on stage, in film and on television.
Her albums The Right Stuff, The Comfort Zone and The Sweetest Days earned multiple Grammy nominations and have yielded such classic hits as “Save the Best For Last,” “Dreamin’,” “Work To Do,” “Love Is,” and the Academy Award-winning single “Colors of the Wind.” Concord Records released Vanessa’s, The Real Thing, in June 2009, for which she received a NAACP nomination for Outstanding Jazz Artist.
Vanessa has taken Broadway by storm when she replaced Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as the Witch in the revival of Into the Woods. She also headlined a limited special engagement of the classic, Carmen Jones, at the Kennedy Center and starred in the Encore! series staged concert production of St. Louis Woman. Vanessa returned to the stage in 2013 where she starred alongside Cicely Tyson in the Tony nominated play, The Trip to Bountiful.
Vanessa has starred in features such as Eraser, Hoodlum, Soul Food, Dance with Me, Light It Up, Shaft and Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. On television, in addition to many movies and mini-series, Vanessa starred in ABC’s critically-acclaimed hit series, Ugly Betty, earning three Emmy nominations in addition to numerous individual and ensemble awards and nominations, including SAG, Golden Globes and NAACP Image Awards. She spent time on Wisteria Lane on the 78th season of ABC’s long-running hit, Desperate Housewives, winning an NAACP Image Award. Other starring credits in the ABC supernatural drama 666 Park Avenue and VH1’s Daytime Divas.
In 2007, Vanessa achieved a career pinnacle, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her accomplishments as a performer.