Nafeesa deflorias biography of williams

American actress

Nafessa Williams 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.^[1]

Early life and education

Williams was born and raised in West Philadelphia.^[2] She attended Robert E.

Lamberton High School.^[3] Growing up in inner city Philadelphia, Williams was exposed to violence, drugs, and police brutality. After seeing Phylicia Rashad's lawyer character Clair Huxtable on the sitcom The Cosby Show, Williams was inspired to attend law school to counter the violence she saw growing up.^[4]

Williams studied criminal justice at West Chester University and interned in the homicide unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.^[5]

Early into her law career, Williams debated changing career paths, after being unhappy in her work, and began taking ac