Biography

Vanessa Williams has sold millions of albums worldwide and has achieved 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,” the Academy Award-winning single “Colors of the Wind,” from Disney’s Pocahontas. Her recordings also include the holiday albums Star Bright and Silver & Gold; Vanessa Williams Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years; Everlasting Love; and The Real Thing, which garnered her a NAACP nomination for Outstanding Jazz Artist. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances. In 1994, Ms. Williams took Broadway by storm in Kiss of the Spider Woman. In 2002 she was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as the Witch in the revival of Into the Woods. On television, she executive produced and starred in The Courage to Love (Lifetime) and A Diva’s Christmas Carol (VH1). She starred as Wilhelmina Slater in ABC’s Ugly Betty, for which she earned three Emmy nominations. An additional Emmy nomination came for her voice-over performance in the 2009 PBS series, Mama Mirabelle Home Movies. Other notable television appearances include recurring roles on Desperate Housewives and 666 Park Avenue. Ms. Williams’s autobiography, You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-Nonsense Mother and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other), written with her mother Helen, was released in 2012. She also launched the fashion line V. by Vanessa Williams. Ms. Williams's many and varied charitable endeavors include such organizations as Special Olympics, The Eye Bank, and many others.