# Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) 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 2016 pageant for the events.
Williams rebounded from the scandal with a successful career as a singer and actress. In 1988, she 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. With her second and third studio albums, The Comfort Zone (1991) and The Sweetest Days (1994), she saw continued commercial success and received multiple Grammy Award nominations, including her number-one single and signature song, "Save the Best for Last", which she performed live at the 1993 Grammy Awards ceremonies. Her later studio albums include Everlasting Love (2005), The Real Thing (2009), and Survivor (2024).
As an actress, Williams enjoyed success on stage and screen. She made her Broadway debut in 1994 with Kiss of the Spider Woman. In 2002, she 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. She starred in the revival of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful in 2013, and the ensemble political farce POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in 2022. She is also known for her appearances in television with her best known roles being Wilhelmina Slater on Ugly Betty (2006–2010) for which she was nominated three times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series; and Renee Perry on Desperate Housewives (2010–2012).
Since 2024, she has been starring in the musical The Devil Wears Prada at the Dominion Theatre, London.

## Early life and education

Vanessa Lynn Williams was born in Tarrytown, New York with a birth announcement that read: "Here she is: Miss America". She was raised in Millwood, New York. A paternal great-great-grandfather was William Fields, an African-American legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Williams is also of English and Welsh descent. Her mother Helen Tinch (1939–2024) met her father Milton Augustine Williams Jr. (1934–2006) while both were music education students at Fredonia State Teachers College in the late 1950s. They became elementary school music teachers in separate districts after marriage. Milton also served as the assistant principal of his school for an extended period of time.
Williams was raised Catholic, the religion of her father. Her mother, who had been raised Baptist, converted to Catholicism when she married. Williams was baptized at Our Lady of Grace Church in the Bronx. Her mother played the organ at St. Theresa's Church in Briarcliff Manor for weddings and at Mass, and Williams used to assist her mother by turning the pages of sheet music.
Williams and her younger brother Chris Williams, who later became an actor, grew up in Westchester County, a predominantly white middle to upper-class suburb of New York City. Williams believes she may have been the first African-American student to go from the first grade to the 12th grade in the Chappaqua Central School District. She attended Robert E. Bell Middle School, as did her children years later. Williams revealed that the shop and home economics teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Fink, were still there when her children attended.
A child of music teachers, Williams grew up in a musical household, studying classical and jazz dance, French horn, piano, and violin. She was offered the Presidential Scholarship for Drama to attend Carnegie Mellon University during the college application period, one of 12 students to receive it, but decided instead to attend Syracuse University on a different scholarship. In 1981, Williams joined Syracuse's College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Drama as a musical theater major. She stayed at Syracuse through her second year until she was crowned Miss America 1984 in September 1983.
In May 2008, Syracuse granted Williams a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. According to Syracuse News, "Williams earned the remaining credits for her degree through industry experience and her substantial performances on stage and screen." Williams delivered the 2008 convocation address, telling Syracuse seniors to "treasure this moment. These days are irreplaceable and are the beginning of the rest of your life."

## Name misattribution

Williams is most often publicly recognized simply as "Vanessa Williams." There is occasional confusion with the similarly named actress Vanessa E. Williams. It has been reported that Vanessa L. became aware of Vanessa E. in the 1980s when the New York University registrar told her that another, similarly aged student with the same name and from the same state had applied. When Williams appeared as Miss America in a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Vanessa E. accidentally received her check for the appearance, which she returned.
In the area of acting, the two ran into name conflict when Screen Actors Guild rules prohibited duplicate stage naming. Vanessa E. had registered the name "Vanessa Williams" first, so as a compromise, Williams was occasionally credited as "Vanessa L. Williams" in acting credits. To compound the confusion, both actresses starred in versions of the drama Soul Food, Williams in the film version, and Vanessa E. in its TV series adaptation. The Screen Actors Guild eventually took the issue to arbitration, and decided both actresses could use the professional name "Vanessa Williams".

## Miss America

Williams was the first African-American recipient of the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984 on September 17, 1983. Several weeks before the end of her reign, a scandal arose when Penthouse magazine bought and published unauthorized nude photographs of her. Williams was pressured to relinquish her title and was succeeded by the first runner-up: Miss New Jersey 1983, Suzette Charles. Thirty-two years later in September 2015, when Williams served as head judge for the Miss America 2016 pageant, former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell made a public apology to her for the events of 1984.

## Career
### Music

Williams first received public recognition for her musical abilities when she won the preliminary talent portion of the Miss America pageant with her rendition of "Happy Days Are Here Again" (Williams would later be crowned Miss America 1984). Four years later in 1988, Williams released her debut album, The Right Stuff. The first single, "The Right Stuff", found success on the R&B chart, while the second single, "He's Got the Look", found similar success on the same chart. The third single, "Dreamin'", was a pop hit, becoming Williams' first top 10 hit on the 1989 Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8, and her first number one single on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album reached gold status in the U.S. and earned her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding New Artist and three Grammy Award nominations, including one for Best New Artist at the 31st Grammy Awards.
Her 1991 second album The Comfort Zone became the biggest success in her music career. The lead single "Running Back to You" reached top twenty on the Hot 100, and the top position of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart on October 5, 1991. Other singles included "The Comfort Zone" (#2 R&B), "Just for Tonight" (#26 Pop), a cover of The Isley Brothers' "Work to Do" (#3 R&B), and the club-only hit "Freedom Dance (Get Free!)".
The most successful single from the album, as well as her biggest hit to date, is "Save the Best for Last". It reached No. 1 in the United States, where it remained for five weeks, as well as No. 1 in Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada, and was in the top 5 in Japan, on the Irish Singles Chart and the UK Singles Chart. The album sold 2.2 million copies in the U.S. at its time of release and has since been certified triple platinum in the United States by the RIAA, gold in Canada by the CRIA, and platinum in the United Kingdom by the BPI. Williams performed the song live at the 1993 Grammy Awards. The Comfort Zone earned Williams five Grammy Award nominations.
The Sweetest Days, her third album, was released in 1994 to highly favorable reviews. The album saw Williams branch out and sample other styles of music that included jazz, hip hop, rock, and Latin-themed recordings such as "Betcha Never" and "You Can't Run", both written and produced by Babyface. Other singles from the album included the adult-contemporary and dance hit "The Way That You Love" and the title track. The album was certified platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA and earned her two Grammy Award nominations.
Other releases include two Christmas albums, Star Bright in 1996, 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 compilations released over the years. Chart performances from subsequent albums, motion picture and television soundtracks have included the songs "Love Is", which was a duet with Brian McKnight, the Golden Globe- and Academy Award-winning "Colors of the Wind", "Where Do We Go from Here?", and "Oh How the Years Go By".
In 1996, Williams performed the national anthem at Super Bowl XXX.
In April 2018, she announced she was working on a new studio album due in the fall that would incorporate her R&B, pop, & Broadway influences.
On April 26, 2024, Williams released a new single, "Legs (Keep Dancing)", the first from her ninth studio album, Survivor, which was released on August 23, 2024. Williams launched her own record label, Mellian Music, for the release. On May 13, 2024, the digital single "Legs (Keep Dancing)" debuted on the US Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales (Billboard) chart in the Number 3 position. The single's success marks Williams' first hit on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart. In July 2024, Williams released the single "Bop!", a collaboration with Trixie Mattel and Lion Babe.
Vanessa Williams has surpassed 250 million total streams on Spotify across all credits. She averages nearly 190K daily listeners on the platform.

### Television and film

Williams has had a successful career in television. Her first television appearance was on a 1984 episode of The Love Boat followed by guest appearances in a number of popular shows. In 1995, 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. In 2000, 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 Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives.
In 2006, 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. Her performance on the series resulted in a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards with additional nominations in 2008 and 2009. Williams next joined the cast of Desperate Housewives for its seventh season, where she portrayed Renee Perry, an old college "frenemy" of Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman). In 2016, she joined the cast of The Librarians, as recurring villainess General Cynthia Rockwell. She starred as Maxine Robinson in the VH1 television series Daytime Divas during its one season in 2017.
Williams has appeared in a number of feature films. She received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Teri Joseph for the 1997 feature film Soul Food. In 2007, she 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 Heritage Film Festival. She also notably co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1996 film Eraser, Samuel L. Jackson in the 2000 soft reboot of Shaft, the characters from Sesame Street in the 1999 film The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, as the Queen of Trash, and with Miley Cyrus in the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie.

### Theatre

Williams began her career on stage in the 1985 production, One Man Band, as one of "the women". She followed it in 1989 as Laura in Ron Milner's Checkmates.
In 1994, she 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. In 1998, she portrayed Della Green in the revival of St. Louis Woman, and Carmen Jones in the 2002 Kennedy Center Special Performance of Carmen Jones. In the same year, she was also featured in the Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning revival production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical at the 56th Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her performance as the Witch. This production included songs revised for her.
In 2010, Vanessa starred in a new Broadway musical revue entitled Sondheim on Sondheim, a look at Stephen Sondheim through his music, film and videotaped interviews. Sondheim ran from March 19 to June 13 at Studio 54 in New York City. In 2013, she starred as Jessie Mae Watts in the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful, which was later turned into a 2014 television film. In 2014, she starred in the Broadway musical, After Midnight and in 2015, she appeared in a PBS production of Show Boat as Julie La Verne. Williams starred as Margaret in POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive on Broadway, with performances that began on April 14, 2022, at the Shubert Theatre.

### Additional roles

Williams served as the host of the 1994 Essence Awards, co-host of Carnegie Hall Salutes the Jazz Masters: Verve Records at 50, host of the 1998 NAACP Image Awards, host of the 2002 documentary, It's Black Entertainment, host of The 6th Annual TV Land Awards in 2007, 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.
Williams is a spokesmodel for Proactiv Solution, and was the first African-American spokesmodel for L'Oréal cosmetics in the 1990s. In 2018, 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. In 2000, she 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.
In a commercial that began running during Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, Williams voiced the new character Ms. Brown, a brown M&M.
In 2020, 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.

### Fashion

In March 2016, Williams launched her own clothing line, V. by Vanessa Williams, for EVINE Live.

## Personal life

Williams and her mother Helen co-authored a memoir titled You Have No Idea, published in April 2012. In the book, Williams discusses her childhood, rise to fame, and personal struggles, including life with type 1 diabetes, including the fact that she was sexually molested by a woman when she was ten years old. She spoke candidly about having an abortion while she was in high school.
Williams is a practicing Catholic, something she spoke about on the ABC News program Focus on Faith with Fr. Edward L. Beck.
Williams has been married three times. She married Ramon Hervey II at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in 1987 just a few years after giving up her Miss America crown and gave birth to her first child at that time. Hervey was a public relations specialist who was hired to resuscitate her career after her resignation. They had three children, Melanie, Jillian, and Devin. They divorced in 1997.
She married NBA basketball player Rick Fox in 1999. They had one daughter, Sasha Gabriella Fox. They divorced in 2004. In 2015, she married Jim Skrip, a businessman from Buffalo, New York at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, after receiving a Church annulment of her first marriage. The couple quietly divorced in 2021.
Her daughter, Jillian Hervey, is an American singer, dancer, and member of the group Lion Babe.
Williams is a grandmother.
In 2013, she participated in Who Do You Think You Are? program to investigate her descendance. According to the DNA-test results, she is 23% of Ghanaian, 17% of British, 15% of Cameroonian, 12% of Finnish, 11% of Southern-European, 7% of Togolese, 6% of Beninese, 5% of Senegalese and 4% of Portuguese descent.

## Activism

Williams is involved with a number of humanitarian causes. in 2011 participated in the human rights campaign New Yorkers for Marriage Equality. She currently sits on the board of The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture a creative arts space run by the Catholic Arch Diocese. She is partnered with Dress For Success, an organization that provides professional attire for low-income women seeking employment. Williams is also involved with The San Miquel Academy of Newburgh, a school for boys at risk.

## Honors and awards

Williams is the recipient of many awards and nominations including eleven Grammy nominations for hits such as "The Right Stuff", "Save the Best for Last", and "Colors of the Wind". In addition, she has earned three Emmy nominations, a Tony Award nomination, seven NAACP Image Awards, and four Satellite Awards.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 19, 2007.
In December 2017, Vanessa L. Williams participated at COAF Gala fundraising event, delivering a special performance of her Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning song "Colors of the Wind" and paid tribute to Patricia Field, with whom she worked on the set of the TV series Ugly Betty.

## Discography
### Studio albums

* The Right Stuff (1988)
* The Comfort Zone (1991)
* The Sweetest Days (1994)
* Star Bright (1996)
* Next (1997)
* Silver & Gold (2004)
* Everlasting Love (2005)
* The Real Thing (2009)
* Survivor (2024)

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1987 | The Pick-up Artist | Rae | |
| 1988 | Under the Gun | Samantha Richards | |
| 1989 | Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal | Valentine Hayward | Television film |
| 1990 | Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer | Terri Knight | Television film |
| 1990 | Seriously...Phil Collins | Rachel | Television film |
| 1990 | The Kid Who Loved Christmas | Lynette Parks | Television film |
| 1991 | Another You | Gloria | |
| 1991 | Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man | Lulu Daniels | |
| 1992 | Stompin' at the Savoy | Pauline | Television film |
| 1995 | Nothing Lasts Forever | Dr. Kathy "Kat" Hunter | Television film |
| 1995 | Bye Bye Birdie | Rose Alvarez | Television film |
| 1996 | Eraser | Dr. Lee Cullen | |
| 1997 | Soul Food | Teri Joseph | |
| 1997 | Hoodlum | Francine Hughes | |
| 1998 | Dance with Me | Ruby Sinclair | |
| 1998 | Futuresport | Alejandra 'Alex' Torres | Television film |
| 1999 | The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland | Queen of Trash | |
| 1999 | Light It Up | Detective Audrey McDonald | |
| 2000 | The Courage to Love | Mother Henriette DeLille | Television film |
| 2000 | Don Quixote | Dulcinea del Toboso/Aldonza Lorenzo | Television film |
| 2000 | Shaft | Carmen Vasquez | |
| 2000 | A Diva's Christmas Carol | Ebony Scrooge | Television film |
| 2001 | WW3 | M.J. Blake | Television film |
| 2001 | Santa, Baby! | Alicia | Voice, television film |
| 2002 | Keep the Faith, Baby | Hazel Scott | Television film |
| 2004 | Johnson Family Vacation | Dorothy Johnson | |
| 2004 | Beck and Call | Zoe | Short film |
| 2006 | Rehearsing a Dream | Herself | Short film |
| 2006 | My Brother | L'Tisha Morton | |
| 2007 | And Then Came Love | Julie Davidson | Also executive producer |
| 2009 | Hannah Montana: The Movie | Vita | |
| 2011 | Delhi Safari | Beggum | Voice |
| 2013 | He's Way More Famous Than You | Herself | |
| 2013 | Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor | Janice | |
| 2014 | The Trip to Bountiful | Jessie Mae Watts | Television film |
| 2014 | When Marnie Was There | Hisako | Voice |
| 2017 | The Man from Earth: Holocene | Carolyn | |
| 2018 | Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay | Amanda Waller | Voice |
| 2018 | The Legend of Hallowaiian | Fire Goddess | Voice |
| 2018 | False Profits | Suzanne | Television film |
| 2019 | Batman: Hush | Amanda Waller | Voice |
| 2019 | Miss Virginia | Sally Ray | |
| 2020 | Bad Hair | Zora Choice | |
| 2023 | Tripped Up | Patty | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | Live from Lincoln Center | Graduates/Off Stage Voices | Episode: "New York City Opera: Street Scene" |
| 1984 | Partners in Crime | Roselle Robins | Episode: "Celebrity" |
| 1984 | The Love Boat | Miss America | Episode: "Ace's Valet/Mother Comes First/Hit or Miss America" |
| 1986 | He's the Mayor | Herself | Episode: "An Officer and the Mayor" |
| 1986 | The Redd Foxx Show | Jessica | Episode: "The Prodigal Son" |
| 1986 | T.J. Hooker | Officer Pat Williamson | Episode: "Partners in Death" |
| 1986 | The Love Boat | Pearl | Episode: "My Stepmother, Myself/Almost Roommates/Cornerback Sneak" |
| 1992 | The Jacksons: An American Dream | Suzanne de Passe | Episode: "Part I & II" |
| 1992 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Danny Mitchell | Episode: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Home from the Forum" |
| 1992–1998 | Saturday Night Live | Herself | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Great Performances | Herself/Host | Episode: "Carnegie Hall Salutes the Jazz Masters: Verve Records at 50" |
| 1995 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Beauty | Voice, episode: "Beauty and the Beast" |
| 1996 | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Arandis | Episode: "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." |
| 1997 | The Odyssey | Calypso | Episode: "Part I & II" |
| 1999 | I'll Make Me a World | Herself/Narrator | |
| 1999 | L.A. Doctors | Dr. Leanne Barrows | Recurring role |
| 2000 | Sesame Street | Herself | Episode: "Dancing on Sesame Street" |
| 2002 | Ally McBeal | Sheila Hunt | Episode: "Another One Bites the Dust" |
| 2002 | The Proud Family | Debra Williams | Voice, episode: "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thingy, Baby" |
| 2003 | Boomtown | Detective Katherine Pierce | Recurring role (6 episodes) |
| 2004 | Mad TV | Herself | Episode: "Episode #9.20" |
| 2006 | South Beach | Elizabeth Bauer | Main cast (8 episodes) |
| 2006–2010 | Ugly Betty | Wilhelmina Slater | Main cast (85 episodes) |
| 2007 | Shear Genius | Herself/Celebrity Judge | 2 episodes |
| 2007–2008 | Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies | Mama Mirabelle | Voice, main role (33 episodes) |
| 2010 | The A-List: New York | Herself | Episode: "To the Sky" |
| 2010–2012 | Desperate Housewives | Renee Perry | Main role (46 episodes) |
| 2011–2023 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself/Guest Judge | 2 episodes |
| 2012 | Kitchen Cousins | Herself | Episode: "Vanessa Williams Kitchen Surprise" |
| 2012 | Phineas and Ferb | Flight Attendant | Voice, episode: "Where's Perry? Part I" |
| 2012–2013 | 666 Park Avenue | Olivia Doran | Main role (13 episodes) |
| 2014 | The Haunting Of... | Herself | Episode: "Vanessa Williams" |
| 2015 | The Mindy Project | Dr. Philips | Episode: "Danny Castellano Is My Nutritionist" |
| 2015 | Royal Pains | Olympia Houston | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | The Good Wife | Courtney Paige | 4 episodes |
| 2015 | Live from Lincoln Center | Julie La Verne | Episode: "Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat" |
| 2016 | Broad City | Elizabeth Carlton | Episode: "Game Over" |
| 2016–2017 | The Librarians | General Cynthia Rockwell | 4 episodes |
| 2016–2018 | Milo Murphy's Law | Dr. Eileen Underwood | Voice, 4 episodes |
| 2017 | Daytime Divas | Maxine Robinson | Main role (10 episodes) |
| 2017 | Difficult People | Trish | Episode: "Strike Rat" |
| 2017 | Modern Family | Rhonda | Episode: "The Long Goodbye" |
| 2018 | RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars | Herself/Guest Judge | Episode: "Divas Lip Sync Live" |
| 2018 | Me, Myself & I | Kelly Frasier | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Project Runway All Stars | Herself/Guest Judge | Episode: "Penneys From Heaven" |
| 2019 | Doc McStuffins | Delilah | Voice, episode: "Adventures in Baby Land" |
| 2019 | First Wives Club | Nancy | Episode: "Something Blue" |
| 2019–2022 | T.O.T.S. | Captain Candace Beakman | Voice, main role (64 episodes) |
| 2020 | RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race | Herself/Vanqueisha De House | Contestant (season 1) |
| 2020–2021 | Twenties | Angela | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Kenan | Tasha Noble | Episode: "Hair Show" |
| 2021 | Marvel's Wastelanders: Star-Lord | Emma Frost | Voice, main role (10 episodes) |
| 2021–2024 | Girls5eva | Nance Trace | 3 episodes |
| 2021–2023 | Queen of the Universe | Herself/Judge | Main role (14 episodes) |
| 2022 | Carpool Karaoke | Herself | Episode: "Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton & Amber Ruffin" |
| 2022 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | Delilah | Episode: "It’s a New Day, Africa America!" |
| 2023 | American Experience | Herself/Narrator | Episode: "Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space" |
| 2023 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself | Episode: "Grand Finale" |
| 2023 | Great Performances | Herself | Episode: "Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway's Best" |
| 2024 | Velma | Dr. Perdue (voice) | 6 episodes |
| 2024 | Elsbeth | Rosalyn Bridwell | Episode: "Diamonds are for Elsbeth" |

### Theater

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1985 | One Man Band | The Women | South Street Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1988 | Checkmates | Laura McClellan-Williams | Westwood Playhouse |
| 1994 | The Jazz Masters, Live from Carnegie Hall | Host/Performer | Carnegie Hall |
| 1994 | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Spider Woman/Aurora Replacement | Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway debut |
| 1998 | St. Louis Woman | Della Green | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2001 | Broadway Bash | Performer | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2002 | Into the Woods | The Witch | Ahmanson Theatre |
| 2002 | Into the Woods | The Witch | Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway |
| 2002 | Carmen Jones | Carmen Jones | Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts |
| 2004 | Silver & Gold | Herself/Performer | Palace Theatre, Broadway |
| 2010 | Sondheim on Sondheim | Performer | Studio 54, Broadway |
| 2013 | The Trip to Bountiful | Jessie Mae Watts | Stephen Sondheim Theatre, Broadway |
| 2013 | After Midnight | Special Guest Star | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway |
| 2014 | Show Boat | Julie La Verne | New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall |
| 2018 | Hey Look Me Over | Performer | New York City Center, Off-Broadway |
| 2020 | City of Angels | Carla Haywood/Alaura Kingsley | Garrick Theatre, West End |
| 2022 | Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Concert Series | Herself/Performer | Town Hall, Broadway |
| 2022 | Anyone Can Whistle | Cora Hoover Hooper | Carnegie Hall |
| 2022 | POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive | Margaret | Shubert Theatre, Broadway |
| 2022 | 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center | Performer | Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts |
| 2023 | Gutenberg! The Musical! | Producer | James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway |
| 2024 | KRISTIN: An Evening with Friends for Todd | Performer | Stephen Sondheim Theatre, Broadway |
| 2024–25 | The Devil Wears Prada | Miranda Priestly | Theatre Royal, Plymouth (July–August 2024) and Dominion Theatre, West End (from Oct 24) |
| 2024–25 | A Wonderful World | (Producer only) | Studio 54, Broadway |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Voice |
| 1996 | You Don't Know Jack Volume 2 | Herself |