Name	Vanessa A Williams
Height
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	March 18, 1963
Place of Birth	Tarrytown, New York, United States
Famous for

Vanessa Lynn Williams was born on March 18, 1963, in Millwood, New York. Her parents, Milton and Helen Williams, were both music teachers, which leads us to wonder how Vanessa ever got started on the piano and the French horn. It wasn't long after her introduction to music that she discovered her naturally beautiful and silky voice, which became such a passion that she pursued singing at Syracuse University as a Theater Arts major.
vanessa williams becomes miss america
Vanessa began competing in beauty pageants when she elegance and grace matured. Before she knew it, she was crowned Miss New York and on her way to represent her state in the Miss America 1984 pageant. Despite her doubts about winning, Vanessa proved herself and everyone else wrong when she won the crown. As a matter of fact, she became the first black woman to win the Miss America crown. Unfortunately, toward the end of her reign, her past caught up with her: In her pre-Miss America days Vanessa posed in some pictures for Penthouse magazine and the publication was threatening to reveal them without her consent. As a result, she resigned as Miss America.

When all had seemed hopeless, she picked up her chin, moved on and began a new career. A year later, Vanessa was singing backup on George Clinton's "Hey Good Looking" and "Do Fries Go with That Shake?" Although the songs weren't widely known, Vanessa caught the attention of Wing/Murcury Record executives and after a couple meetings they signed her to a recording contract. While working up a storm on her debut album in 1987, she married and later divorced her now ex-manager Ramon Hervey.
vanessa williams releases the right stuff
In June 1988, Vanessa released her debut album The Right Stuff. The public was quick to forgive Vanessa for her shady past and fully embraced the new playful, funky and sexy singer. In fact, the public loved her so much that her single "Dreamin'" shot up the U.S. R&B charts and hit No. 1.

In 1991 her second album, The Comfort Zone was released. The favorite track was the now-famous ballad "Save the Best For Last," which remained No. 1 on the charts for five weeks.
vanessa williams appears on the fresh prince
Between 1991 and the release of her third album, the platinum-selling The Sweetest Days, in 1994, Vanessa dedicated some of her time to her acting career. The parts weren't big, but she appeared with some notable actors, such as Richard Pryor in Another You (1991), Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991), and with Will Smith on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

1994 also saw Vanessa appear in the Broadway production of Kiss of the Spider Woman, for which she received rave reviews. In 2002, she received Tony nods for her role in another Broadway production, Into the Woods.
vanessa williams releases everlasting love
Vanessa continued working in the music industry and in Hollywood throughout the '90s, despite a significant drop in the performance of her albums. Her Star Bright album, released in 1996, was the only full-length album to be certified gold. In addition to a couple of greatest hits albums and a couple of Christmas albums, Vanessa released Next (1997), Love Songs (2004) and Everlasting Love (2005).

Vanessa's record sales weren't the only things in her life that were faltering during this time. She married her second husband, former professional basketball player and actor, Rick Fox, with whom she had her fourth child. By 2004 the National Enquirer published photos of him kissing another woman and in 2005, on The Howard Stern Show no less, Vanessa was professing that there wasn't much chance or reconciliation. The couple divorced that same year and Vanessa has since been linked to Rob Mack.
vanessa williams appears in shaft
On the big screen, however, Vanessa finally earned a major role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action/suspense movie Eraser (1996). This opened up a new area of acting for her and she was soon getting more exposure in films such as Hoodlum (1997) starring Laurence Fishburne, Soul Food (1997) with Vivica A. Fox, Shaft (2000) featuring Samuel L. Jackson, and the TV miniseries The Odyssey.

Her fans enjoyed seeing her the most on the 1998 film Dance With Me. The role, which featured Venessa in cute clothes and dancing her butt off, was tailor made for her. Unfortunately, the film didn't do so well, which probably had something to do with the era it was released in -- post-Dirty Dancing (1987) and pre-Save the Last Dance (2001) starring Julia Stiles.
vanessa williams on ugly betty
After a memorable stint as Elizabeth Bauer on South Beach in 2006, Vanessa's career experienced a resurgence in its popularity. In 2006, she landed the role of feisty, cutthroat and manipulative Wilhelmina Slater on the ABC hit, Ugly Betty. While working on the show Vanessa also landed a part in the 2007 romantic comedy And Then Came Love.