Vanessa Williams has a very simple philosophy about why she keeps saying yes to the most deliciously difficult women in television and theatre, and it comes down to one thing: not being afraid.
The 63-year-old appeared on The Happy Grownup Podcast, where host Hal Rubenstein cut straight to it: “Why do you keep playing b–ches?”
Williams laughed and got straight to the point.
“You know, I think you have to not be afraid, because some people are like, ‘Oh I want to be liked.’ Well, why have a career if you just take roles that you want to be liked in? That’s ridiculous.”
The list of formidable women she has inhabited is a long one.
There was Wilhelmina Slater, the gloriously self-absorbed creative director of Mode on Ugly Betty.
Then came Renee Perry, the devious troublemaker she played on Desperate Housewives.
She is currently playing Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada musical on London’s West End.
And she traces the trajectory back further, to the 2000 TV movie A Diva’s Christmas Carol, in which she played a gender-flipped Ebony Scrooge.
“A Diva’s Christmas Carol, that was the first one, probably,” she said.
Beyond the attitude, Williams says these characters give her something most roles simply cannot.
“They have the most delicious lines, always. I mean, every day, I’ll read a script, I’m like ‘That’s hilarious. Oh, that’s really terrifying. I want to do that.’ It’s fun for me.”
She also credits having the “chutzpah” and “gravitas” to pull these larger-than-life figures off.
“I take risks. I think you have to put yourself out there when you’re playing somebody who’s larger than life and not afraid to step up to the plate and be a heavy hitter.”
Williams first came to public attention in 1984 as the first Black person to be named Miss America, before pivoting to a music career and earning 11 Grammy nominations, including song and record of the year for her 1992 number one hit Save the Best for Last.
She made her Broadway debut in Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994 and received a Tony nomination for The Witch in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods.
