Vanessa Williams
Birth : 1963-03-18, Tarrytown, New York, USA
History
An American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, and actress. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal involving nude photographs caused her to relinquish her title early. Williams rebounded by launching a career as an entertainer, earning Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award nominations.
Williams released her debut album The Right Stuff in 1988, which spawned the hits "The Right Stuff," a #1 on Hot Dance Songs, and "Dreamin'," a #1 on R&B and #8 on Billboard Hot 100. Her second studio album, The Comfort Zone, in 1991 topped the Billboard R&B Album Chart, and spawned the number-one hit, "Save the Best for Last."
In 1994 she debuted on Broadway in the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. In 1995 she recorded the Oscar-winner for Best Original Song, "Colors of the Wind," from the Disney animated feature film Pocahontas. It went on to reach #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Williams's first major movie role was as the star of the feature film Eraser in 1996. She also starred in the movies Soul Food, Dance with Me, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Shaft and Johnson Family Vacation.
From 2006 to 2010 she played the role of self-absorbed diva and former supermodel Wilhelmina Slater in the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty. In 2009, Williams released her eighth studio album, The Real Thing. In 2010 she joined the ensemble cast of the series Desperate Housewives as spoiled rich woman Renee Perry.
Patricia Chamberlain
Aspiring chef Lizzy sets off with her three best friends in tow to compete in the prestigious Saucy Food Festival. What begins as a calculated career move quickly turns into a madcap misadventure full of food, fun and female bonding, where the girls learn that struggle can be the secret ingredient to success.
With idiosyncratic style and an eye toward the future of fashion, Patricia Field has always been shaping culture. Happy Clothes: A Film About Patricia Field brings us into the mind of the one-of-a-kind visionary and queer icon.
narrator
Raised in the small all-Black Florida town of Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston studied at Howard University before arriving in New York in 1925. She would soon become a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, best remembered for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. But even as she gained renown in the Harlem literary circles, Hurston was also discovering anthropology at Barnard College with the renowned Franz Boas. She would make several trips to the American South and the Caribbean, documenting the lives of rural Black people and collecting their stories. She studied her own people, an unusual practice at the time, and during her lifetime became known as the foremost authority on Black folklore.
Zora
In 1989, an ambitious young woman gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television. However, her flourishing career may come at a great cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.
Join us for a livestream concert series featuring singer and actress Vanessa Williams. Streamed live from New York’s Shubert Virtual Studios, the show will feature a mix of Broadway show tunes, pop songs, and personal stories from the Williams' life.
Jackie Chisolm
Story of a woman who wakes up on the morning of her 35th birthday and decides she wants to settle down and get married, so she goes on a series of hilarious dating encounters only to realize that the most important thing is for her to be comfortable in her own skin.
Sally Rae
A struggling inner-city mother sacrifices everything to give her son a good education. Unwilling to allow her son to stay in a dangerous school, she launches a movement that could save his future - and that of thousands like him.
Amanda Waller (voice)
A mysterious new villain known only as Hush uses a gallery of villains to destroy Batman's crime-fighting career as well as Bruce Wayne's personal life, which has been further complicated by a relationship with Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
Fire Goddess (voice)
After releasing a mythical monster upon the islands, a group of three young friends must use local legends to restore peace to their home.
Amanda Waller (voice)
Task Force X targets a powerful mystical object that they will risk their lives to steal.
Carolyn
14,000 year-old "Man from Earth" John Oldman, now teaching in northern California, realizes that not only is he finally starting to age, but four students have discovered his deepest secret, putting his life in grave danger and potentially destroying the world's most popular religion.
Self
A deep look at the class warfare and the contradictions that African-Americans face within their own community when many of them are ostracized because they are “not black enough.” An analysis of the reasons behind these absurd acts of hatred.
Beverly
Based on ReShonda Tate Billingsley's novel of the same name, The Secret She Kept, a successful magazine executive marries a driven lawyer, who's on the cusp of a major promotion, only to discover that his wife is severely bi-polar. The movie explores the meaning of love and the vow of "in sickness and in health."
Julie LaVerne
The landmark musical brought vividly to life by the New York Philharmonic, with an all-star cast led by Vanessa Williams, Julian Ovenden, Lauren Worsham, Norm Lewis, Jane Alexander and Fred Willard.
Jessie Mae Watts
Carrie Watts begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house.
Vanessa Williams
When once-up-and-coming indie film starlet Halley Feiffer loses her boyfriend, her agent and her career in one fell swoop she finally realizes that something in her life has got to change... she has to become WAY MORE FAMOUS! Armed with a stolen script and two pitchers of sangria, Halley enlists the help of her brother Ryan and his boyfriend to make her own movie, starring herself (of course) as herself, and any A-list celebrity she can land along the way.
Janice
A marriage counselor's personal and professional life becomes complicated after she enters into a relationship with one of her clients.
Regina Reynolds is a strong black woman in the truest sense -- but her taste for the good life doesn't necessarily include her husband, Marcus, or her daughter, Monica. It's going to take a mother's unconditional love to pray Regina down to earth.
Vita
When Miley Stewart (aka pop-star Hannah Montana) gets too caught up in the superstar celebrity lifestyle, her dad decides it's time for a total change of scenery. But sweet niblets! Miley must trade in all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for some ol' blue jeans on the family farm in Tennessee, and question if she can be both Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana.
Julie
Successful New York journalist and single mom Julie Davidson's (Vanessa Williams) six-year old son Jake (Jeremy Gumbs) is acting up, so she finds his sperm-donor father Paul Cooper (Kevin Daniels), who's a struggling actor and law-school drop-out.
Support for the arts in America may be dwindling, but talent in our high schools isn't. Every year a group of the country's most gifted 17-year-old performing and visual artists - singled out among thousands of their peers - share a week of dreams as they learn from mentors like Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vanessa Williams, Jacques d'Amboise, Michael Tilson Thomas... and from each other. For seven transformative days, the passionate young artists revel in the support, encouragement and attention they have earned.
L'Tisha Morton
"My Brother" is an inner city story of two impoverished boys, Isaiah and James. James is developmentally disabled. Their mother, L'Tisha, finds herself in a tragic situation. Dying of tuberculosis, she desperately tries to get her two boys, eight and eleven at the time, adopted together. Finding that only Isaiah can be adopted. L'Tisha makes the only choice she feels she can make; creating an unbreakable bond of love between the boys, and hoping that bond will get them through life. Her prayers are answered as the boys overcome impossible odds on their way to adulthood, staying as close as ever as young men dealing with life's obstacles.
Witch (segment "Into the Woods")
Broadway royalty and Tony-winners Tommy Tune, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, and Harvey Fierstein are your hosts for this third compilation of great musical performances from the archives of the Tony Award® broadcasts. Legendary stars from legendary shows strut their stuff in 23 performances that have become part of Broadway history.
Directed by Michael Stevens. With Michael McDonald, Phil McGraw, LeAnn Rimes, Ruben Studdard.
Self
An extremely unique celebration of Christmas for the young and hip and the young at heart.
Dorothy Johnson
Nate Johnson, a Los Angeles man estranged from his wife and three children, decides to reconnect with his family by taking them with him on a road trip to Missouri for a big family reunion.
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the Library of Congress. These first-person anecdotes, ranging from the brutal to the bittersweet, have been brought to vivid life in this unique HBO documentary special, featuring the on-camera voices of over a dozen top African-American actors.
Hazel Scott
Harry J. Lennix stars as trailblazing and controversial African-American congressman and Civil Rights activist Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who started out as a preacher in Harlem and then went on to deal with such issues as the integration of schools in the 1940s and '50s. Vanessa Williams portrays his second wife, jazz singer Hazel Scott.
Self - Host
A star-studded tribute (from the creators of That's Entertainment) to the contributions of Afro-Americans in film over the last century. Vanessa Williams traces the struggles and triumphs of the superstars of music and film. Among the many artists featured are: Whitney Houston, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Cab Calloway, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Little Richard, Also included are today's contemporary superstars: Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, and many, more! 80 minutes plus DVD bonus features.
Alicia (voice)
Songwriter Noel is struggling to write a hit song, and so he takes his frustrations out on his family. His daughter Dakota is granted one wih for doing a good deed and she wishes that her daddy will write a hit song. There is a sub-plot about kindness to animals that has almost nothing to do with the main story.
Ebony Scrooge
In this remake of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol", a cold-hearted superstar singer gets a reality check when she meets three Christmas spirits who would change her miserly ways for the better.
Herself
An extraordinary program of holiday music featuring special guest appearances and musical contributions by Vanessa Williams, Michael McDonald, David Sanborn, and introducing the artistry of Rob Mathes
Carmen Vasquez
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
Dulcinea / Aldonza
The classic tale of a man's dream, his epic journey, and one true love.
Executive Producer
In 19th century New Orleans creole Henriette must choose between love and devotion to the church. Neither choice is going to be easy, as there is great opposition to her ideas of breaking traditions.
Mother Henriette Delille
In 19th century New Orleans creole Henriette must choose between love and devotion to the church. Neither choice is going to be easy, as there is great opposition to her ideas of breaking traditions.
Self
Audrey McDonald
On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.
Queen of Trash
Elmo loves his fuzzy, well-worn blue blanket more than anything in the whole world. Elmo's blanket gets sucked into colorful, swirling tunnel into Grouchland, the yuckiest place on earth. Elmo goes on an adventure to Grouchland to retrieve his blanket.
Alexandra 'Alex' Torres
In the not too distant future, a new deadly sport is the only way to stop a war that will kill millions. Fix is the creator of the sport, but the spotlight has always been on Ramzey. Now this hothead must use the game to stop the Revolution.
Ruby Sinclair
Young Cuban Rafael just buried his mother, and comes to Houston to meet his father John for the first time. The difficult part is that John doesn't know he is Rafael's father. John runs a dance studio, and everyone prepares for the World Open Dance championship in Las Vegas. It soon becomes clear Rafael is a very good dancer, and Ruby is the biggest hope for the studio at the championship.
Self
Pavarotti And Friends for the Children of Liberia
Teri
Traditional Sunday dinners at Mama Joe's (Irma P. Hall) turn sour when sisters Teri (Vanessa L. Williams), Bird (Nia Long) and Maxine (Vivica A. Fox) start bringing their problems to the dinner table in this ensemble comedy. When tragedy strikes, it's up to grandson Ahmad (Brandon Hammond) to pull the family together and put the soul back into the family's weekly gatherings.
Francine Hughes (as Vanessa L. Williams)
In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.
Lee Cullen
U.S. Marshall John Kruger erases the identities of people enrolled in the Witness Protection Program. His current assignment is to protect Lee Cullen, who's uncovered evidence that the weapons manufacturer she works for has been selling to terrorist groups. When Kruger discovers that there's a corrupt agent within the program, he must guard his own life while trying to protect Lee's.
Rose Alvarez
In 1995, ABC presented a telemovie version of the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie produced by RHI Entertainment. It starred Seinfeld's Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams of Desperate Housewives. While this version remained mostly faithful to the original musical (Michael Stewart remains the only credited author of this version), several songs were added and re-arranged, and dialogue was slightly rewritten to smoothly facilitate the musical changes. The musical revolves around an Elvis Presley-type rocker who's about to join the Army. To mark the occasion, his manager's secretary arranges for him to kiss a random fan goodbye on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie earned four Tony awards in 1961, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for its original star, Dick Van Dyke. In addition to Alexander and Williams, ABC's production starred Tyne Daly, George Wendt, Chynna Phillips and Mark Kudisch.
Dr. Kathy 'Kat' Hunter
Story of the personal lives and careers of three female doctors, from different backgrounds and walks of life, who work at a San Francisco county hospital.
47 minute comedic parody with Professor N. Likeflynn (Martin Keegan) offers dating advice on how to score with hot chicks and older women. Consists short clips of music videos, and examples of how to hit on women.
Pauline
As the Harlem Renaissance flourishes in jazzy New York City, Pauline, Esther and Alice struggle to survive. By day, they toil at dreary jobs, dreaming of stardom, riches and happiness. By night, they dance their troubles away at the famous Savoy Ballroom. But when World War II appears on the horizon, the girls find their fortunes unfolding too unevenly to reconcile, and they inevitably begin to drift apart.
Lulu Daniels
It's the lawless future, and renegade biker Harley Davidson and his surly cowboy buddy, Marlboro, learn that a corrupt bank is about to foreclose on their friend's bar to further an expanding empire. Harley and Marlboro decide to help by robbing the crooked bank. But when they accidentally filch a drug shipment, they find themselves on the run from criminal financiers and the mob in this rugged action adventure.
Gloria
George has been in a mental hospital for 3 years and is finally ready to go out into the real world again. Eddie Dash, a dedicated con-man, is supposed to keep him out of trouble, but when people begin to recognise George as a missing millionaire, Eddie wants to take advantage of the situation.
Lynette Parks
In this sentimental holiday tale, a young boy is taken away from his loving, adoptive household when his new mom is killed in an auto accident and his traveling musician dad is deemed unfit to care for him, being on the road too much. Now, the only thing that can help is if a cold, bureaucratic adoption agency caseworker sees the error of her ways and allows them to be together.
Terri Knight
Perry Mason defends the husband of a famous rock singer who was found being killed after having had a tremendous discussion with her husband and her manager.
Valentine Hayward
A high-priced call girl who has been secretly videotaping her rich clients is shot to death. An investigation of her murder ensues, bringing those involved into the underground world of pornography and prostitution.
Samantha Richards
A St. Louis cop, Mike Braxton (Sam Jones), receives an urgent call for help from his brother Tony (Nick Cassavetes), a small time thief in Los Angeles. Mike rushes to LA and finds that his brother has been murdered and his brother Tony's girlfriend gunned down right in front of him. Mike quickly learns Tony was a courier for an arms smuggler, Simon Stone (John Russell). When Mike meets Stone's lawyer, Samantha Richardson (Vanessa Williams), the two team up to bring down Stone's arms smuggling empire. However, Mike's infatuation with Samantha keeps putting them in greater danger.
Rae, Girl with Dog
A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt to the mob.
