Vanessa Williams
Acting • Born 1963-05-12
Biography
Vanessa Estelle Williams (sometimes professionally credited as Vanessa A. Williams) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her roles as Maxine Joseph–Chadway in the Showtime drama series, Soul Food (2000–04), for which she received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, and as Rhonda Blair in the first season of the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place (1992–93). She is also known as Nino Brown's feisty gun moll, Keisha in the 1991 crime drama film, New Jack City and as Anne-Marie McCoy in the first and fourth of the Candyman films. Though not related, she is sometimes confused with American actress, singer, and former Miss America 1984, Vanessa L. Williams. Both women were also, coincidentally, born in New York in the same year. In addition, Vanessa A. Williams starred in the television soap opera, Soul Food, while Vanessa L. Williams starred in the original film.
Filmography
57 credits
A Rich Christmas
Movie • 2021
Aggie Maggy / Madison
New Jack City
Movie • 1991
Keisha
Flirting with Forty
Movie • 2008
Kristine
Welcome to the Christmas Family Reunion
Movie • 2021
Eve Christmas
Candyman
Movie • 1992
Anne-Marie McCoy
Punks
Movie • 2000
Jennifer
Mid-Century
Movie • 2022
Beverly Gordon
Ice Spiders
Movie • 2007
Dr. April Sommers
Imagine That
Movie • 2009
Lori Strother
Men, Money & Gold Diggers
Movie • 2014
Sandra Winslow
Contradictions of the Heart
Movie • 2009
Lea
Drop Squad
Movie • 1994
Mali
Black Listed
Movie • 2003
J.W.
Love on a Two Way Street
Movie • 2020
Gloria
Cruel Encounters
Movie • 2023
Corynne
Black Girl, Erupted
Movie • 2023
Cassandra Cole
Raising Izzie
Movie • 2012
Tonya
Happy to Be Nappy and Other Stories of Me
Movie • 2004
Self (voice)
Angie's Cure
Movie • 2022
Carla
Our America
Movie • 2002
Sandra Williams
I Left My Girlfriend for Regina Jones
Movie • 2019
Rebecca
Incognito
Movie • 1999
Wilhelmina Hunter
Mother
Movie • 1996
Donna
Thriller
Movie • 2018
Mrs. Walker
Playing with Fire
Movie • 2000
Riana Roberts
One Fine Christmas
Movie • 2019
Susan
Candyman
Movie • 2021
Anne-Marie McCoy
Crossed the Line
Movie • 2014
Juice
Sugar Mommas
Movie • 2012
Lynn
Like Mike
Movie • 2002
Pharmacist
Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story
Movie • 2022
Lucille
The Jaleel White Special
Movie • 1992
Malcolm & Eddie
TV • 1996
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Vera
The Pretender
TV • 1996
Denise Clements
The Cosby Show
TV • 1984
Jade
Cold Case
TV • 2003
Crystal Stacy (2007)
Murder One
TV • 1995
The Steve Harvey Show
TV • 1996
Nina
Living Single
TV • 1993
Melrose Place
TV • 1992
Rhonda
Total Recall 2070
TV • 1999
Chicago Hope
TV • 1994
Grace Carr
Buddies
TV • 1996
The Wendy Williams Show
TV • 2008
Good Day Live
TV • 2001
Self
American Horror Stories
TV • 2021
Dr. Eleanor Berger
The Flash
TV • 2014
Francine West
A Luv Tale
TV • 2021
Candice
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Soul Food
TV • 2000
Maxine Chadway
9-1-1
TV • 2018
Claudette Collins
Phineas and Ferb
TV • 2007
Flight Attendant (voice)
Murder One
TV • 1995
Lila Marquette
The Cosby Show
TV • 1984
Cheryl
40 and Single
TV • 2018
Bertha Brown
Between Brothers
TV • 1997
Rebecca