Vanessa Williams Receives Star on Walk of Fame

Monday, March 19, 2007

HOLLYWOOD, Mar. 19, 2007 -- Vanessa Williams received the 2,331st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monday, a day after her 44th birthday, as the first black Miss America is honored for her career as an actress and singer.

Producer Peter Gruber, Williams' "Ugly Betty" castmate Michael Urie and her brother Chris Williams, a cast member of the new Fox Broadcasting series "The Wedding Bells," joined Williams at the late- morning ceremony in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Williams was named the 1984 Miss America, but resigned 54 days before the start of the next pageant after it was discovered that she had posed nude for photographs, including some with a lesbian theme.

Despite speculation that her reputation would never recover, Williams' 1988 debut album "The Right Stuff" became a gold album and earned her three Grammy nominations, including best new artist, a category won by Tracy Chapman.

Williams' 1991 multi-million selling follow-up, "The Comfort Zone," and third album, "The Sweetest Days," each yielded multiple hits and Grammy nominations. She also received a Grammy nomination for the hit single "Colors of the Wind," from Disney's "Pocahontas."

Williams fulfilled a lifelong dream in 1994 by starring on Broadway, replacing Chita Rivera in "Kiss of the Spider Woman." She received a Tony Award nomination for the 2002 revival of "Into the Woods."

Williams' movie credits include starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Eraser." She later had a role in another Schwarzenegger production, singing the national anthem at his 2003 inauguration as governor.

She also appeared in "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" and won an NAACP Image Award for her starring role in "Soul Food."

In her latest film, "My Brother," released Friday, Williams stars as a woman dying of tuberculosis and trying desperately to get her two sons adopted together.

After starring in the short-lived UPN drama "South Beach" last year, Williams is co-starring in the hit ABC first-year comedy "Ugly Betty" as scheming diva fashionista who seeks to sabotage the man chosen instead of her to edit a fashion magazine.

Disney is the parent company of ABC7.

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