Birthday: Mar 18, 1963

Birthplace: Bronx, New York, USA

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 s... ... (read more...) how 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.