Born to teacher parents in New York City, Vanessa and her brother grew up in suburban New York in comfortable surroundings. Vanessa sang and danced in school productions and signed her high school yearbook with a promise to 'see you on Broadway'.

After winning a performing scholarship to Syracuse University, she left school and tried to make it in New York show business. She began entering beauty contests in 1984, eventually winning Miss New York and then becoming the first African-American Miss America. But she later had to relinquish her title after nude pictures began to surface.

Many predicted that her future in show business was over. She landed a recording contract and released several hit albums, including 'The Comfort Zone' and 'The Sweetest Days'.

After performing in television roles and music videos, she began appearing in films like Another You and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man and even The Fresh Prince of Bel Air with Will Smith. She landed her first big hit film with the thriller Eraser co-starring with Arnold Schwarzenegger and followed that up with Soul Food and the 2000 remake of Shaft. She managed to keep her high school promise and performed on Broadway in the musical 'Kiss of the Spider Woman', a musical based on the Academy-Award winning film of the same name.

Vanessa had four children. Three with ex-husband Ramon Hervey and one with ex-husband Rick Fox, former Lakers star.

You can currently catch Vanessa on ABC's Ugly Betty.