Nafessa Williams

thumb Nafessa Williams (born 1985) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Anissa Pierce in The CW's Black Lightning and Robyn Crawford in the 2022 Whitney Houston biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Quotes Being in a totally new country and with a lot of other actors who had worked together before, whereas I didn’t know anybody. I was an outsider It was so beautiful to witness someone in their eighties making their dreams come true. Not only did she get a show, she got a fucking second season! It reminds you to never stop dreaming. You have to give it to her – Jilly really lived her life Jilly had had a lovely summer party in her garden that we all went to again – the best champagne, the best desserts: a true Cotswolds experience… I can’t believe she’s gone "Nafessa Williams felt like "An Outsider" in the Rivals cast:My first season was really tough" I was working in a law firm and hated it. I thought, there’s no way I can come here everyday. It was boring. So I took the day off, went on an audition, got fired and the rest is history. I love all things Whitney so this was easy. My goal for taking on this character was to learn as much as I could about Robyn and be authentic in telling her story. I did a deep dive into Robyn’s book ‘A Song For You’ which served me a lot, and went back to the 80’s for some style inspo. Watched as many video clips I could find of Robyn which weren’t many and told the truth from what I learned it to be. Robyn played a very pivotal role in Whitney’s personal and professional life and I thought it was time for that story to be told. I loved Robyn’s loyalty to Whitney, so I led with that. I would tell them to make the decision to go for it and dont stop until you get there. Study as much as possible, get into a great scene study class and surround yourself with other actors, if possible actors who are more experienced than you. Find mentors and ask questions. Mentors are great, because you can learn from their mistakes. "In Her Own Words: Nafessa Williams on Bold Roles and Even Bolder Dreams", June 24, 2025 External links 4049910 Category:Living people Category:Actresses from Philadelphia Category:Living people Category:1985 births Category:Women from the United States Category:Women born in the 1980s