Vanessa Estelle Williams, sometimes professionally credited as Vanessa A. Williams,[1] is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her roles as Maxine Joseph–Chadway in the Showtime drama series, Soul Food (2000–04), for which she received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series and as Nino Brown's feisty gun moll, Keisha in the 1991 crime drama film, New Jack City. Williams also is known for her role as Anne-Marie McCoy in the first and fourth films in the Candyman film series, and as Rhonda Blair in the first season of the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place (1992–93).