Vanessa Williams - Actor/Singer

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Vanessa Williams has worked her way up through the ranks of fame. After beginning her days in the spotlight as the first African American Miss America in 1983, Williams went on to launch a successful singing career.

She has received fifteen Grammy nominations to date. But, not content to simply be a successful recording artist, she went on to roles in theatre, television, and film. She is currently starring as magazine editor Wilhelmina Slater on the ABC hit series Ugly Betty. The show recently snagged a Golden Globe award for its freshman season and has been picked up for a second season this fall. TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Dominick Miserandino caught up with Vanessa recently—here’s what she had to tell us about the hectic lifestyle of a star:

DM) Hi Vanessa, how ya doing?

VW) Good, how are you?

DM) Doin’ well.

VW) Can you hear me?

DM) I can. I heard you’re running through an area without a good cell phone reception.

VW) Well, I’ll try to stay in one area.

DM) (laughs) No worries, no worries. So, it seems as if you’ve been quite a bit busy lately, if I understand correctly.

VW) Yeah, I’m looking at houses right now, actually.

DM) (laughs) Well, I kinda meant the fact that you have another album coming out and a couple of other things, but on top of that, you’re looking at houses!

VW) Yeah, looking to rent. My job is out here now, so I got to continue to commute and find a place to kind of set up camp out here in L.A.

DM) So if you’re setting up camp, I assume that means you’re getting pretty settled in what you’re doing now, then.

VW) Um, well, I would probably say doing a series is the most—well, it’s never reliable or dependent. So, as of the moment, I’ve got a job (both laugh) and we are coming back in July. And that’s all I know at this point. You know, that’s part of being an actress. The entertainment industry is pretty elusive, and it’s nice to have a gig, and it’s nice that we were asked for a season two… No guarantees!

DM) (laughs) But now, with this role in particular, how do you find playing someone who, personality-wise is, I assume, quite a bit different from the real Vanessa?

VW) Oh, it’s fun! You know, there’s the fact that the writing’s fabulous and the cast is wonderful and um, you know it’s like doing a play, it’s really an ensemble show. And that’s what’s great about it. It’s like going to work and having fun, so the fact that the lines that are written for me are catty and sarcastic and biting—it’s pure folly and I’m enjoying every bit, and every word.

DM) Do you ever find it a challenge to play somebody who is a little, uh, devious?

VW) A challenge? No. You know, again, it’s a comedy so it’s not like people come up and equate me with a character and resent me. I don’t cross any lines where people are getting hurt, you know, it’s a comedy, it’s all in fun. Again, it’s the writing that comes to life and makes it all really interesting.

DM) Now, parallel to this, I thought you were also releasing a record.

VW) Yeah, I’m getting together the material and working on a producer, so we’re not even close to release, we’re just trying to start it soon, so hopefully we’ll have that going by the time I come back, when we start our season two in July.

DM) That’s kind of what I was wondering, is if you’re starting the next season you have to kind of schedule the two of them, I assume, in addition to anything else you’re juggling.

VW) Yeah, but it’s easier to do it. I know that once we start shooting, I’ll have to be in L.A. from July through the end of April anyway, so it’ll be a lot easier to schedule studio time in L.A., knowing that I’m gonna be out of here by a given time. This is our last week of shooting now, then I’ll be off, back home to New York. Then I’ve got to do a couple gigs in Japan and I’m also doing something in Egypt, and then I’ll be seeing my kids’ schedules, graduating school and all that stuff, that’s the kind of stuff that gets kind of hectic. Being in one place is uh, is a little more structured so I’ll be able to do all that, come summertime.

DM) So no wonder you’re looking to really settle down in L.A., just to juggle everything, it sounds like.

VW) Well, unfortunately it won’t be really settling because then I’ll have one child who just got into school out here, but then my son will be going to high school in New York, so it’ll be pretty much still doing the commute for this next season, but then we’ll see about that. Again, I’ve never been able to stay in one place long, I don’t know why, but it doesn’t happen.

DM) (laughs) I’m surprised you haven’t gotten to the point where you’re like, “Alright, I’m taking the next ten years off, call me again in 2011,” or something.

VW) I don’t have the finances to do that! (laughs) I certainly love being creative and what I do involves people and performing.

DM) Even looking at the resume online, I’m seeing just every year, every season you’re doing something, I mean going back to ’89!

VW) (laughs) I love to. It’s a challenge and I’m able to incorporate both, and it’s really a blessing.

DM) Now also, I understand, it looks like about three weeks ago you received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

VW) Yes, I did!

DM) That was a big honor right there.

VW) Yeah. I wish we were allowed to put more than one emblem on the star, I had to choose and I chose recording, which is what I’ve done for years. My first album came out in ’88, so it’s been certainly a while and I have had continued success in recording, but I’d loved to have been able to put a little bit of Broadway, a little bit of television, a little bit of film, and also recording—so that’s just one part of who I am.

DM) And you just stole my next question (both laugh), which was really good, involving which you would choose, because you have really been in everything with the arts, anyway. I was wondering myself when I saw it was recording: “Do you associate yourself more with that, or was that really the default, because that was the one you hit big with first, so to speak?"

VW) No, it’s like being a part of a band of performers. When I’m on Broadway, Broadway is all I think about and all I am and consume myself with being there 8 shows a week, and when I’m recording an album it’s all about the studio and the sound and the producers and putting out a great album, and then when I’m on the road it’s all about performing and being with my band, so I guess it’s either being like being a chameleon or just having the luxury of assuming the role.

DM) And I assume that on top of that, when you get home, you have to switch back to the role of Mom for the kids.

VW) Umhmm, but they also tag along too so there’s been many times backstage, hanging out, being in the studio, and so they know that it all comes together.

DM) Do you find you need though, every so often, to take a break from it all or take two weeks and just get away from the world?

VW) I certainly do. I have vacations with the kids and I certainly…I’m not just a workaholic, and luckily I’m not working every day so I can come home. Spending time with my kids is my time away from, you know, not doing stuff.

DM) It sounds like that gives you the chance to recharge and lets you go out and take care of the world again.

VW) Yeah, exactly…exactly.

DM) Do you have your schedule then, so to speak, set up, for years in advance? I’m trying to look at this and say, how do you juggle this all?

VW) When you know your days off and you know your schedule, you just work accordingly. I wish it was that organized, but then again, in this industry, you can’t. You never know whether you’re gonna have a hit. You do a pilot, and then you hope that it gets picked up, and after it gets picked up you hope it lasts more than a few episodes and doesn’t get yanked off the TV, and after that, you just never know. So you sign on and you cross your fingers and then you juggle. And you have to be flexible, and that’s what a great support system and family and nanny and manager and PR people, everybody—works with, what’s available.

DM) It sounds like, when it became a hit, the producers were just taking one step at a time with it, and were like, “Great, it’s a hit! Now let’s see where it goes from here.”

VW) Well, you never know!

DM) Well, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me, Vanessa, I really do.

VW) No problem.

DM) Thank you so much.

VW) You too, take care!

Talk to other readers about this story.