Williams is also known for her role as Anne-Marie McCoy in the first and fourth of the Candyman films, and as Rhonda Blair in the first season of the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place (1992–93).

The Screen Actors Guild eventually took the issue to arbitration and decided both actresses could use the professional name "Vanessa Williams".

In 1992, she was cast as Rhonda Blair, the first and only black regular character, in the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place.

[12] She later had guest starring roles on NYPD Blue and Living Single, before she was cast as a series regular in the ABC legal drama, Murder One (1995–1996) created by Steven Bochco.

[8] In 2000, Williams was cast as Maxine Chadway in the Showtime drama series Soul Food, a continuation of the successful 1997 film of the same name.

For her performance, Williams won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 2003, and received three additional nominations.

[13] After Soul Food, Williams had guest starring roles on Cold Case, Knight Rider and Lincoln Heights.

The following years she had small parts in Drop Squad (1994), Mother (1996), Punks (2000), Like Mike (2002), and Imagine That (2009) alongside Soul Food co-star Nicole Ari Parker.