Days of Our Lives Star Vanessa Williams Celebrated Amazing Milestone

Poor Valerie recently had her heart crushed by Abe on Days of Our Lives, after it looked like he was carrying on with Sheila, but her portrayer, Vanessa Williams, should be nothing but smiles!

That’s because the actress was born on May 12, 1963, in Bedford-Stuyvesant — Brooklyn, New York — which means that she turned 56 on Sunday. She became a member of the New York City Opera’s Children’s Chorus at age 11 and quickly got a manager.

Obviously incredibly talented, she went on to attend New York’s famed High School of Performing Arts. From there, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in theatre and business from Marymount Manhattan College.

One of her first breaks was when she played a recurring role on The Cosby Show as Theo’s (Malcolm Jamal Warner) scene partner in a school play. She impressed Bill Cosby, who asked her back to play another role, Theo’s girlfriend Cheryl Lovejoy, who was from Barbados.

Soon after, she played Rhonda for the Season 1 of Melrose Place. She also played the recurring roles of Lila on Murder One, Dr. Grace Carr on Chicago Hope, Maxine Chadway on Soul Food, Francine West on The Flash, Ida Turner on Famous in Love, Bertha Brown on 40 and Single, and Candice in the mini-series A Luv Tale: The Series.

Soap Hub hopes Vanessa Williams had the happiest of birthdays and you can wish the same to her by clicking on the Twitter link below.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.