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'Soul Food' Actress

Vanessa Williams shares the name of another talented actress. But this Williams is the one who can be seen on the current cable television hit, "Soul Food."

Williams visited The Early Show to discuss the Showtime television drama that has been entertaining audiences with stories of family and love for the past three seasons.

"Soul Food" follows the trials and tribulations of the Joseph family, a multi-generational African-American family living in Chicago.

The series is based on the popular 1997 movie of the same name. (Former Miss. America Vanessa L. Williams starred in that film.) The movie centered around the Joseph family and when the center of the family, Mama Joe, dies, the family has to struggle to keep together by continuing their Sunday night dinners, which consisted of traditional southern soul food.

In the television series, Williams plays Maxine Chadway, one of three sisters who are working to keep their family together. High school graduate Maxine is a married mother of three who now wants to be more than a stay-at-home mom. She has watched as her two sisters (one a lawyer the other a business owner) developed their professional lives, while she has nurtured a successful marriage and family life.

Williams says the show appeals to all types of people — black, white, men and women.

Williams has appeared on such TV programs as "Melrose Place (1992-1993), "Chicago Hope" and bit parts in "The Cosby Show," "Charmed", "Living Single" and "Law and Order."

"Soul Food" airs on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.

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