Ugly Betty (Thursdays, 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET)
VANESSA WILLIAMS
Wilhelmina Slater on the ABC Television Network's "Ugly Betty"
Vanessa Williams' performance as "Ugly Betty's" scheming fashionista Wilhelmina Slater has earned her critical acclaim as well as an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Williams is one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment today, having conquered the music 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.
In addition to her Emmy nomination, Williams has earned two NAACP Image Awards as Outstanding Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Wilhelmina Slater. The role has also garnered her a Teen Choice Award for TV Villain.
Her albums "The Right Stuff," "The Comfort Zone" and "The Sweetest Days" earned multiple Grammy nominations and yielded such classics as "Save the Best for Last," "Dreamin'," "Work to Do" and "Love Is," among others. She was also nominated for a Grammy for her single "Colors of the Wind," from Disney's "Pocahontas," which went on to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and the Grammy for Best Song in a Motion Picture. Other recordings include two holiday albums, "Star Bright" and "Silver & Gold," plus "Vanessa Williams' Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years" and "Everlasting Love," love songs from the 1970s. She is currently recording a new album for Concord Records which will be released later this year.
In 1994 Williams took Broadway by storm when she replaced Chita Rivera in "Kiss of the Spider Woman," winning the hearts of critics and becoming a box-office sensation. She garnered rave reviews and was nominated for a Tony Award for the 2002 revival of "Into the Woods," 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."
On the feature film front, Williams will be seen in the upcoming "Hannah Montana: The Movie," opposite teen sensation Miley Cyrus. She made her film debut in 1986 in "Under the Gun," then appeared in "The Pick-Up Artist," "Another You" and "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man." She starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Eraser," followed by a leading role opposite Laurence Fishburne and Andy Garcia in "Hoodlum" and in the box office hit, "Soul Food." She starred in "Dance with Me," "Light It Up," "Shaft," opposite Samuel L. Jackson, and in "Johnson Family Vacation," with Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey. She also starred in the independent feature "My Brother."
On television she starred in "Stompin' at the Savoy," "The Boy Who Loved Christmas" and "The Jacksons: An American Dream," for which she won an NAACP Image Award. Williams won rave reviews in ABC's revival of "Bye, Bye Birdie" and starred in the miniseries "Nothing Lasts Forever" and the Emmy-nominated "The Odyssey." She appeared opposite John Lithgow in TNT's "Don Quixote," and executive-produced and starred in "The Courage to Love" for Lifetime. She was also seen in the VH1 original movie, "A Diva's Christmas Carol," as well as the Showtime movie "Keep the Faith, Baby."
Williams' charitable contributions are many and varied, embracing and supporting such issues as education, homelessness, abuse, women's issues and health concerns, AIDS and anything having to do with children.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOMETOWN Millwood, NY
BIRTHDATE March 18
