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Vanessa Williams

Age: 46
Height: 5' 6"

Birth Place: Tarrytown, New York, USA
Born: Mar. 18th, 1963

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Vanessa Williams' Main TV Roles

Show	Character(s)
Ugly Betty	Wilhelmina Sl&hellip
Between Brothers	Rebecca (2)
South Beach	Elizabeth Bauer
TV Land Awards 2008	Vanessa Willi&hellip

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB

BIOGRAPHY:

Vanessa Lynn Williams must be credited with making one of the most startling and unexpected comebacks in show business history. Born to teacher parents in New York City, Vanessa and her brother grew up in suburban New York in comfortable surroundings. Vanessa sang and danced in school productions and signed her high school yearbook with a promise to 'see you on Broadway'. After winning a performing scholarship to Syracuse University, she left school and tried to make it in New York show business. She began entering beauty contests in 1984, eventually winning Miss New York and then becoming the first African-American Miss America. During her reign, some nude girl-girl photos taken while she was in New York surfaced in Penthouse magazine. Although the photos were taken before her beauty contest victories, she was forced to resign her crown. Many predicted that her future in show business was over. She landed a recording contract and released several hit albums, including 'The Comfort Zone' and 'The Sweetest Days'. After performing in television roles and music videos, she began appearing in films like Another You (1991) and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991). She scored her first big hit film with the thriller Eraser (1996) co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger and followed it up with Soul Food (1997) and the remake of Shaft (2000). She managed to keep her high school promise and performed on Broadway in the musical 'Kiss of the Spider Woman', a musical based on the Academy-Award winning film of the same name. As of this writing, she is one of the most beautiful and sought after performers around and she is in rehearsals to star in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical 'Into The Woods'. She continues to alternate between recording, the stage, films and television.

TRIVIA:

Turned down the role in _Monster's Ball (2001)_ (qv), which later went to 'Halle Berry' (qv).
Spokesperson for Proactive Solution (Acne Medication).
She and 'Rick Fox (I)' (qv) eloped to the Caribbean in the Summer of 1999, but promised family and friends they would re-tie the knot that Fall, which they did in a lavish ceremony at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City, followed by a gala reception at the St. Regis Hotel.
Her runner-up, 'Suzette Charles' (qv), became the second African-American Miss America after her resignation.
Did commercials for Radio Shack from 2001 with 'Howie Long' (qv) and 'Ving Rhames' (qv), and, from 2003, husband 'Rick Fox (I)' (qv). She also did spots for Crest, and a late-night infomercial for skin care product, Proactive Solution.
Was the first black contestant in the hot seat on _"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (1999/I)_ (qv).
Was originally cast as Jane Toussaint in 'Spike Lee' (qv)'s _School Daze (1988)_ (qv), but was replaced by 'Tisha Campbell-Martin' (qv) due to artistic differences.
In 2007, became one of the highest paid spokespersons of all time in the world of infomercial products when she signed a $20 million dollar contract with ProActive Solution.