Figure timeline
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later resign her title amid a media controversy surrounding nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine. 32 years later, Williams was offered a public apology during the Miss America 20…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · American singer, actress and 1984 Miss America (born 1963) · film actor · singer · stage actor · television actor · model · beauty pageant contestant · lyricist · actor · manufacturer · voice actor · also Vanessa Williams, Vanessa Lynn Williams, Vanessa L. Williams, Vanessa Lynne Williams, Williams
Born 18 March 1963 · Q202801
52 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
6 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
Public attention spiked: 12,297 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.3× the usual 2,859, with 2 article edits. Editors noted: Reverting possible vandalism by ~2026-33332-86 to version by ~2026-31035-33. Report False Positive? Thanks, ClueBot NG. (4528395) (Bot)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Survivor”.
Released ep “BOP! EP”.
The digital single "Legs (Keep Dancing)" debuted on the US Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (Billboard) chart in the number 3 position
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams released a new single, "Legs (Keep Dancing)", the first from her ninth studio album, Survivor, which was released on August 23, 2024
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “The Best”.
Williams was the winner of season 1, episode 2 of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race, and donated her prize of $20,000 to the LGBTQ charity The Trevor Project
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams returned as a spokesmodel for L'Oréal as part of their "Age Perfect" campaign alongside fellow ambassadors Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, and Jane Fonda
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Joined the cast of The Librarians, as recurring villainess General Cynthia Rockwell
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Married Jim Skrip, a businessman from Buffalo, New York, at St
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Starred in the Broadway musical, After Midnight and in 2015, she appeared in a PBS production of Show Boat as Julie La Verne
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And the ensemble political farce POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in 2022
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Was in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Starred as Jessie Mae Watts in the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful, which was later turned into a 2014 television film
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Christmas With Vanessa Williams”.
Williams voiced the new character Ms
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Participated in the human rights campaign New Yorkers for Marriage Equality
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Vanessa starred in a new Broadway musical revue entitled Sondheim on Sondheim, a look at Stephen Sondheim through his music, film and videotaped interviews
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “The Real Thing”.
Starred in the independent film My Brother, for which she won Best Actress honors at the Harlem International Film Festival, the African-American Women in Cinema Film Festival, and at the Santa Barbara African Herita
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Host of the 36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 2009, and host of the documentary Dreams Come True: A Celebration of Disney Animation in 2009
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams received considerable media attention for her comic/villainess role as former model/magazine creative director turned editor-in-chief Wilhelmina Slater in the ABC comedy series Ugly Betty
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Everlasting Love”.
Released album “Love Songs”.
Released album “Silver & Gold”.
Released album “The Best of Vanessa Williams: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection”.
Released album “20th Century Masters The Christmas Collection: The Best of Vanessa Williams”.
Starred as The Witch in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods that earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical at the 56th Tony Awards
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Our Favorite Things: Christmas in Vienna”.
Williams starred in the Lifetime film about the life of Henriette DeLille, The Courage to Love and in 2003, Williams read the narrative of Tempie Herndon Durham from the WPA slave narratives in the HBO documentary Unchai
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as a contestant, and again in August 2009, as a celebrity guest during the show's tenth anniversary prime-time special editions, winning $50,000 for her charity
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Divas of Soul”.
Released album “Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years”.
Portrayed Della Green in the revival of St
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “Next”.
Released album “Star Bright”.
Williams performed the national anthem at Super Bowl XXX
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And Silver & Gold in 2004, as well as Next in 1997, Everlasting Love in 2005, and The Real Thing in 2009, along with Greatest Hits: The First Ten Years, a greatest hits compilation released in 1998, and a number of other
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Theatre World Award (1995).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams starred as Rose Alvarez in a television adaptation of the 1960 Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie and portrayed the nymph Calypso in the 1997 Hallmark Entertainment miniseries The Odyssey
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “The Sweetest Days”.
Broadened her ascendant music career into a theatrical role when she replaced Chita Rivera as Aurora in the Broadway production of Kiss of the Spider Woman
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Released album “The Comfort Zone”.
Released album “The Right Stuff”.
Released her debut studio album The Right Stuff, whose title single saw moderate success as well as "Dreamin'", which peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1989
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams released her debut album, The Right Stuff
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Just a few years after giving up her Miss America crown and gave birth to her first child at that time
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Miss America (1984).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Miss New York (1983).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Williams joined Syracuse's College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Drama as a musical theater major
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1963-03-18.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
In Tarrytown, New York, a suburb of New York City
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Connections