Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams portrays the role of Renee Perry on Desperate Housewives.

Career
Vanessa Lynn Williams starred for four seasons as Wilhelmina Slater on ABC's critically-acclaimed hit series, Ugly Betty, for which she won or was nominated for numerous individual and ensemble awards, including the Emmy, SAG Award, Golden Globe and NAACP Image Awards.

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" and "Love Is," and the Academy Award-winning single "Colors of the Wind," from Disney's Pocahontas, among many others. Her recordings also include two holiday albums, "Star Bright" and "Silver & Gold," "Vanessa Williams Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years" and "Everlasting Love," a romantic collection of love songs from the 1970s.

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. She also 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.

She made her film debut in 1986 in Under the Gun, and went on to star in Eraser, Hoodlum, Soul Food, Dance With Me, Light It Up, Shaft and Johnson Family Vacation. She recently starred in the independent features My Brother and Somebody Like You, and co-starred in Disney's Hannah Montana: The Movie. On television Williams has starred in such movies and miniseries as Stompin' at the Savoy, The Boy Who Loved Christmas, The Jacksons: An American Dream, ABC's revival of Bye, Bye Birdie, Nothing Lasts Forever, The Odyssey, Don Quixote and Keep the Faith, Baby, and she executive-produced and starred in Lifetime's The Courage to Love and the VH1 Original Movie, A Diva's Christmas Carol.

In 2007 Williams achieved a career pinnacle with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her accomplishments as a performer. Her charitable endeavors are many and varied, embracing and supporting such organizations as Special Olympics and many others.

Recently she co-starred in Disney's feature Hannah Montana: The Movie, and her latest album, "The Real Thing," was released by Concord Records.