There are many talented black women out there, but when it comes to versatility and class, Vanessa Williams takes the cake (in fact, she steals the whole damn show). The cool thing is that she is aware of the influence she has on the younger generation and she has taken a mature approach to life choosing to be a good role model for many people. Sure, she had that thing with the photos, but since then there has been no blemish on her record so I think we can all put that behind us now (God knows Lindsay and Britney got more blemishes on their record than a freckled kid left out in the summer sun for too long).

Vanessa saw the light of day in Tarrytown, New York, in the family of Milton and Helen Williams, both of them music teachers (I bet a bunch of you guys out there are going "figures!" right now). So, naturally, when Vanessa was old enough, she was introduced to the wonderful world of musical notes via a piano and a French Horn (if you don't know what that is, Google it). As she matured, she discovered that she had a wonderful singing voice, soft and melodious, which made her the perfect candidate for the Syracuse University, the Theater Arts section. She never completed the courses at the Syracuse University because in her sophomore year she entered the Miss America Beauty Pageant, and she actually won it (to everyone's surprise I might add), thus becoming the first black woman to ever win the title.

This was not the first attempt, as she had entered the beauty pageant circuit in the early 80s. First, she won Miss New York in 1983, which qualified her for the All American pageant. She won the Miss America title on September 17, 1983, but all was not rainbows and butterflies because she immediately started receiving death threats and hate mail from across the nation from people who didn't see with good eyes that a black woman had beaten all those nice white girls. But soon, this was going to be the least of her worries, because, after ten months of winning the title, she received a dubious phone in which she learned that a number of nude photos of her were going to be surfaced in an adult magazine. The pictures had been taken a year before she won the title and were not supposed to be published as she never gave her consent.

The photographer in question thought he could make a pretty penny of the pics and decided to sell them to the highest bidder, which later proved to be Penthhouse as Playboy (namely Hugh Heffner) didn't want to have anything to do with the scandal. Anyway, the pictures got out and Vanessa was left in a very awkward situation, being pressured by the officials at the Miss America Pageant to give up her title, which she finally did, being replaced with the first runner up, Suzette Charles. But woe upon those who thought that her career in the spotlight was finished! Remembering that bad press is still press, Vanessa put that fine voice of hers to good work and after a while came out with an album, "The Right Stuff", in 1988 making a lot of people eat their words.

The album was successful in the R&B charts, with a top 10 single ("Dreamin'") and 3 Grammy nominations, finally reaching gold status. Not bad work for a first album, but the second album, "The Comfort Zone" was an even bigger hit, topping in countries like Australia, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom and going triple platinum in the US, gold in Canada and platinum in the UK.

In 1994, she turned towards an acting career when she got cast in the 1994 Broadway production "Kiss of the Spider Woman", though she had already done a couple of movies for the big screen by this time. Mostly noted is the cult classic "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man". Later titles include "Eraser" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and "Soul Food" (1997) for which she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. Another movie you saw her in and you might have liked is the romance with Latin sensation Chayanne called "Dance With Me" (c'mon, admit it, you liked it!).

And to make the set complete, let me tell you that Vanessa's also done some TV work, a lot actually, on series like "The Love Boat", "the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Saturday Night Live", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Ally McBeal". Right now, she's got all of you mad about her character on the hit TV show "Ugly Betty", directed by the very lovely Salma Hayek. One could think that there is virtually nothing this woman cannot accomplish and you wouldn't be too far from the truth. How could we reward her multitude of talents? With an IN vote of course, but you could just as well vote her OUT. Whichever you consider more appropriate.

Filmography:

"Ugly Betty" (31 episodes, 2006-2007)

And Then Came Love (2007)

My Brother (2006)

"South Beach" (8 episodes, 2006)

Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

"Boomtown" (6 episodes, 2003)

"Ally McBeal" (1 episode, 2002)

Keep the Faith, Baby (2002) (TV)

A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000) (TV)

Shaft (2000)

Don Quixote (2000) (TV)

The Courage to Love (2000) (TV)

"L.A. Doctors" (3 episodes, 1999)

Futuresport (1998) (TV)

Dance with Me (1998)

Soul Food (1997) (as Vanessa L. Williams)

Hoodlum (1997)

The Odyssey (1997) (TV)

"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1 episode, 1996)

Eraser (1996)

Nothing Lasts Forever (1995) (TV)

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1 episode, 1992)

The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992) (TV)

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)

Another You (1991)

The Kid Who Loved Christmas (1990) (TV)

Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal (1989) (TV)

Under the Gun (1988)

The Pick-up Artist (1987)

"The Love Boat" (1 episode, 1986)

"T.J. Hooker" (1 episode, 1986)

Do you have the same birthday as our celebrity? If so, click here to find out more about it.