Vanessa Williams to Star in ABC’s “Happy Accident”

Vanessa Williams. Photo by Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock (7542084dh)

Vanessa Williams is returning to ABC for her next television role. 

The actress who starred as Wilhelmina Slater on ABC’s Ugly Betty, has been tapped to star in the network’s upcoming family comedy pilot. Williams has landed a lead role and will star opposite previously announced Matt Walsh and JoAnna Garcia Swisher.

The single-camera comedy follows two Pittsburgh families — a father (Walsh) with three adult daughters (Swisher will play the eldest) and a hotel lounge singer (Williams) with her son — who are forced together after a decades-old secret is revealed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri, the lounge singer is described as a diva with no money who had one hit in the late ‘80s. Her son is the most important thing in her life, but her career is a closesecond.

Happy Accident is penned by Modern Family writers Abraham Higginbotham and Jon Pollack. Higginbotham and Pollack will also serve as executive producers alongside pilot director Kat Coiro.