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Vanessa Williams on the Red Carpet
May 9, 2007

If you think you can’t take your eyes off her eyes on the screen, just try looking into Vanessa Williams’

aqua peepers in person. We did just that, for as long as we could, on the red carpet for a screening of My Brother in Washington, D.C. The drama, available from Vivendi Visual, debuts on DVD on May 30. The occasion was presented by Special Olympics, a natural tie-in as one of L’Tisha Morton’s (Williams) sons in the urban drama has Down syndrome.

Down-on-her-luck Morton, Williams’ blue-collar mother, is a far cry from power hungry predator Wilhelmina Slater, who she plays on ABC-TV’s hit Ugly Betty. Williams has always been a versatile actress, but it helped this time that My Brother writer/director Anthony Lover wrote the role of L’Tisha specifically for Williams.

“He chose me because he knew I was a mother and could play the part genuinely, without pretending,” Williams told us.

She also was at ease, thanks to her involvement with Special Olympics, playing against Christopher Scott, who portrays James, the son with Down; the actor actually does have an intellectual disability.

Williams has been a board member of Special Olympics for 15 years, since being drawn into the movement after contributing to the second “A Very Special Christmas Album” in 1992. It’s not a token board seat: Special Olympics boasts 2.5 million athletes with intellectual disabilities in 165 countries, and Williams takes her duties very seriously.

“I was just swept away by their enthusiasm and passion,” the mother of four - none with intellectual disabilities - told us amid the throng at the screening. “Once I learned there was a slot on the international board open, I jumped at it. I’m in my second term.”

Lover says the title has pre-orders of 150,000 units, an impressive number that he acknowledges has much to do with Williams’ participation.

“Vanessa has become a very viable star and an advocate for the film,” he said Lover, just as Williams was swept away down the red carpet. If only we could have gazed into those aqua eyes once more…--Buzz McClain

Posted by Laurence Lerman on May 9, 2007 | Comments (0)