Vanessa Williams joins `Desperate Housewives`

Vanessa Williams has joined the cast of `Desperate Housewives`.

New York: She played the villainous fashionista Wilhemina Slater in `Ugly Betty` but Vanessa Williams` latest role is a lot more homely. The actress has now joined the cast of `Desperate Housewives`.

The former Miss USA will join the cast of Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross as the new housewife on Wisteria Lane, reported a news daily. The 47-year-old actress who was nominated for three Emmys for the recently canceled `Ugly Betty`, will be slipping into the spot vacated by Kyle MacLachlan. The singer-actress will play Renee Filmore-Jones, an old college acquaintance of Lynette, played by Huffman, in the seventh season of the superhit series. ABC network confirmed her role saying that she would portray "a housewife who`s sure to shake things up in the neighborhood and wreak havoc in the lives of the women of Wisteria Lane." Brian Austin Green, perhaps best known in recent days as the new husband of actress Megan Fox and who has starred in shows such as `Beverly Hills 90210` and `Smallville`, has also been confirmed to appear in the upcoming seventh season of the show. PTI