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The Matshai Sisters
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The Matshai Sisters

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Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams

Character: Renee Perry

She has sold millions of albums worldwide and achieved critical acclaim as an actress on stage, film and TV.

Williams starred for four seasons as Wilhelmina Slater on the critically-acclaimed hit series, Ugly Betty, for which she won or was nominated for numerous individual and ensemble awards, including the Emmy, SAG Award, Golden Globe and NAACP Image Awards.

Her albums The Right Stuff, The Comfort Zone and The Sweetest Days earned multiple Grammy nominations and have yielded such classic hits as Save the Best for Last, Dreamin, Work to Do and Love Is, and the Academy Award-winning single Colors of the Wind, from Pocahontas, among many others.

In 1994 Williams took Broadway by storm when she replaced Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman, winning the hearts of critics and becoming a box-office sensation. She garnered rave reviews and was nominated for a Tony Award for the 2002 revival of Into the Woods.

In 2007 Williams achieved a career pinnacle with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her accomplishments as a performer. Her charitable endeavors are many and varied, embracing and supporting such organizations as Special Olympics and many others.