Vanessa A. Williams is an American actress who has appeared in several television series such as Melrose Place and the Showtime cable television series Soul Food. In 1996, she was featured in the television series Murder One

Murder One (TV series)

Murder One is an American legal drama series that first aired on the ABC network in the United States in 1995. The series was created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, and Channing Gibson.-Premise:...

. In 1988, she appeared in the music video for "Parents Just Don't Understand

Parents Just Don't Understand

"Parents Just Don't Understand" is the second single from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's second studio album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989, one of only two songs to ever do so before the award was discontinued in 1991. It peaked at...

" sung by rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince is a hip hop duo from West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vocalist Will Smith met Jeff Townes while trying to make a name for himself in West Philadelphia's local hip hop scene. After joining forces with Clarence Holmes the team members became local celebrities...

.

Williams was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York City. While not related, she is sometimes confused with singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams

Vanessa L. Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...

, who starred in the original film version of Soul Food

Soul Food (film)

Soul Food is a 1997 American comedy-drama film, produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds, and Robert Teitel, and released by Fox 2000 Pictures. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film stars Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey D. Sams, Irma...

. She had her DNA tested and discovered that she descended from the Tikar

Tikar

The Tikar are a group of related ethnic groups in Cameroon. They live primarily in the northwestern part of the country, in the Northwest Province near the Nigerian border. They speak Bantoid language, also called Tikar. Their population is approximately 25,000.The Tikar have elements of...

 and Bamileke

Bamileke

The Bamileke is a folk whose native ancestral area is in the western highlands of Cameroon's West Province, west of the Noun River and southeast of the Bamboutos Mountains and in the Moungo region of the Littoral, Southwest, and Centre Provinces. They are a part of the Semi-Bantu ethnic groups...

 ethnic groups from Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

.

Personal life

In 1993, Williams met Andre Wiseman. The couple began dating and then got married in Stuyvesant, New York. In 2007, Wiseman and Williams filed for divorce. Williams married her former Melrose Place costar John Marshall Jones

John Marshall Jones

John Marshall Jones is an American actor and director. He is originally from Detroit, Michigan. He is perhaps best known as Floyd Henderson from the TV series Smart Guy...

 in 2007. The couple has three children; daughter Andrea Wiseman (from Williams's marriage to Andre Wiseman), son John Marshall Jones, Jr., and another son William Jones.

Producer

• Dense
  Dense (film)
  Dense is a 2004 35 minute made for TV film directed and written by Vanessa Williams with Shari Poindexter which aired on Showtime and which is currently playing in film festivals around the country.- Plot :...
  
  (2004) executive producer & producer
• Allergic to Nuts (2003) executive producer
• Driving Fish (2004) co-executive producer

Actress

• 227
  227 (TV series)
  227 is an American situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, until May 6, 1990. The series starred Marla Gibbs as a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, Mary Jenkins...
  
  : "A Funny thing happened on the way to the Pageant" (1988)
• Law & Order
  Law & Order
  Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
  
  : "Happily Ever After
  Happily Ever After (Law & Order episode)
  "Happily Ever After" is the fifth episode of NBC's legal drama Law & Order. It originally aired on October 23, 1990.-Plot:A millionaire and his wife are attacked in their parking garage. The husband dies and his wife is wounded...
  
  " (1990) as Vera
• New Jack City
  New Jack City
  New Jack City is a 1991 crime film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, and Chris Rock. Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer and crime lord in New York City during the crack epidemic...
  
  (1991) as Keisha
• The Cosby Show
  The Cosby Show
  The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
  
  (2 episodes, 1989) as Jade and (2 episodes, 1991) as Cheryl
• Fatal Bond
  Fatal Bond
  Fatal Bond was a 1992 Australian 'B' grade film, directed by Vincent Monton, starring Linda Blair and Jerome Ehlers. It was filmed in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, Australia, including Narrabeen Caravan Park.-External links:*...
  
  (1992) as Waitress
• Candyman
  Candyman (film)
  Candyman is a 1992 horror film starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd and Xander Berkeley. It was directed by Bernard Rose and is based on the short story "The Forbidden" by Clive Barker, though the film's scenario is switched from England to Chicago. The film was scored by Philip Glass. The film was...
  
  (1992) as Anne-Marie McCoy
• Melrose Place (1992–1993) as Rhonda Blair
• Drop Squad (1994) as Mali
• NYPD Blue
  NYPD Blue
  NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
  
  : "Don We Now Our Gay Apparel" (1995) as Kira
• Living Single
  Living Single
  Living Single is an American television sitcom which aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 29, 1993 to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone.Throughout its run, Living...
  
  : "Another Saturday Night" (1995) as Hellura
• Buddies: Marry Me... Sort Of" (1996) as Janice Rollins
• Murder One
  Murder One (TV series)
  Murder One is an American legal drama series that first aired on the ABC network in the United States in 1995. The series was created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, and Channing Gibson.-Premise:...
  
  (1995–1996) as Lila
• Mother
  Mother (1996 film)
  Mother is a 1996 comedy-drama film directed by Albert Brooks, and was co-written by Brooks with Monica Johnson. The film stars Brooks and Debbie Reynolds.-Plot:...
  
  (1996) as Donna
• Malcolm & Eddie
  Malcolm & Eddie
  Malcolm & Eddie is an American television sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996 on the UPN Network, and ran for four seasons. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. This show was canceled after its fourth season, and aired its final episode on May 22, 2000...
  
  : "Big Brother Is Watching" (1996) as Stephanie
• Chicago Hope
  Chicago Hope
  Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
  
  (4 episodes, 1996) as Dr. Grace Carr
• A Woman of Color (1997)
• Breakdown (1997)
• Between Brothers
  Between Brothers
  Between Brothers is an American television situation comedy centered around four middle-class African American men in their late twenties, living in Chicago. It premiered on September 11, 1997 on Fox, with the second season airing on UPN, until March 2, 1999. The lead characters were portrayed...
  
  : "The Interview" (1997) as Rebecca
• The Pretender
  The Pretender (TV series)
  The Pretender is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod, a genius and former child prodigy with "the ability to become anyone he wants to be," i.e., to flawlessly impersonate anyone in virtually any line of work...
  
  : "Collateral Damage" (1998) as Denise Clements
• The Steve Harvey Show
  The Steve Harvey Show
  The Steve Harvey Show is an American sitcom that aired for six seasons from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002 on The WB Television Network. It was created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan.-Synopsis:...
  
  : "Rent" (1998) as Nina
• Total Recall 2070
  Total Recall 2070
  Total Recall 2070 is a science fiction television series first broadcast in 1999 on the Canadian television channel CHCH-TV and later the same year on the American Showtime channel. It was later syndicated in the United States with some editing to remove scenes of nudity, violence and strong...
  
  : "Self-Inflicted" (1999) as Violet Whims
• Incognito (1999) as Wilhelmina Hunter
• Playing with Fire (2000) as Riana Roberts
• Punks (2000) as Jennifer
• Soul Food (2000–2004) as Maxine Chadway
  Maxine Chadway
  Maxine Joseph Chadway is a fictional character from the Showtime television series Soul Food. The character first appeared in the 1997 film Soul Food as Maxine Joseph Simmons, and was portrayed by Vivica A. Fox. In the television series, the surname was changed to Chadway, and the role was assumed...
  
  
• Afrocentricity (2000)
• Heavy Gear
  Heavy Gear
  Heavy Gear is a game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game and a lesser known combat card game...
  
  : The Animated Series (5 episodes, 2001) as Sonja Briggs
• Baby of the Family (2002) as Gloria
• Our America (2002) as Sandra Williams
• Like Mike
  Like Mike
  Like Mike is a 2002 film, directed by John Schultz and starring Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki and Brenda Song. It was produced in association with NBA Entertainment and features many cameo appearances by NBA stars...
  
  (2002) as Pharmacist
• Black Listed (2003) as J.W.
• Allergic to Nuts (2003) as Jennie
• Gift for the Living (2005) as Voiceover
• Cold Case: "Shuffle, Ball Change" (2007) as Crystal Stacy
• Drawing Angel (2007) as Thulani
• Ice Spiders
  Ice Spiders
  Ice Spiders is an R rated 2007 horror/Sci-fi movie that premiered on June 9, 2007 on the Sci Fi Channel. Ice Spiders stars Patrick Muldoon, Vanessa A. Williams, Noah Bastian, K. Danor Gerald and Matt Whittaker and was released on DVD in 2007.- Plot :...
  
  (2007) as Dr. April Sommers
• Hummingbird
  Hummingbird
  Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...
  
  (2008) as Donya
• Lincoln Heights
  Lincoln Heights (TV series)
  Lincoln Heights is an American drama television series about Eddie Sutton, a Mission Vista police officer who moves his family back to his old neighborhood, Lincoln Heights, to start a new life and to help out his old neighborhood...
  
  : "Ode to Joy" (2008) as Naomi Bradshaw
• Flirting with Forty (2008) as Kristine
• Contradictions of the Heart (2009) as Lea
• Knight Rider
  Knight Rider (2008 TV series)
  Knight Rider was a 2008 series that follows the 1982 TV series of the same title and the 2008 television movie. The series stars Justin Bruening as Mike Traceur, the estranged son of Michael Knight. The series also stars Deanna Russo as Sarah Graiman, Traceur's former girlfriend and love interest....
  
  : (2 episodes, 2009) as Ambassador Olara Kumali
• Imagine That (2009) as Lori Struthers
• Everybody Hates Chris
  Everybody Hates Chris
  Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
  
  : "Everybody Hates Bomb Threats" (2009)

External links

• Vanessa A. Williams' Official Website