Vanessa Williams to Co-Star in ABC Cosmetics Drama

‘False Profits’ brings the ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’ grad back to the network.

Vanessa Williams is returning to ABC.

The former Ugly Betty star has joined the cast of the network’s drama pilot False Profits.

Starring Scandal favorite Bellamy Young, False Profits follows a team of down-and-out women in suburban Arizona as they fight their way to the top of the cutthroat world of a multi-level marketing cosmetics business.

Williams will play Suzanne, the “chief” of a successful “tribe” of saleswomen who wants to add Laura (Young) to her cluster of money-making devotees. Suzanne dangles the prospect of a fabulous income in front of Laura but becomes mercilessly competitive the moment that Laura starts her own tribe of three.

Kayla Alpert (Confessions of a Shopaholic, Code Black) penned the pilot script and exec produces the ABC Studios drama alongside Jason Reed and Sabrina Wind (Desperate Housewives). Kosha Patel, Kapil Talwalkar and Shelley Hennig co-star.

For Williams, False Profits marks not only a return to ABC where she starred in Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and short-lived drama 666 Park Avenue but also a reunion with Wind, who worked for Marc Cherry on Housewives. Williams’ recent credits include VH1’sDaytime Divas. She’s repped by UTA and GEF Entertainment.

Keep up with all the latest pilot orders, castings and eventual series pickups with THR‘s handy guide.