Nafessa Williams

Nafessa Williams (born December 9, 1989) is an American actress known for her roles in various films and TV shows. In 2011, she portrayed Nicole Gordon in the Meek Mill film Streets and Deanna Forbes on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. She gained further recognition for her role as Dr. Charlotte Piel in the CBS drama Code Black in 2016. From 2018 to 2021, Williams portrayed Anissa Pierce in The CW's Black Lightning. She also played Robyn Crawford in the 2022 Whitney Houston biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Williams was raised in West Philadelphia and attended Robert E. Lamberton High School. She studied criminal justice at West Chester University and interned in the homicide unit of the District Attorney's Office.