Vanessa, the daughter of a Navy petty officer and a nurse, grew up in Pensacola, Florida. Both of her parents were born and raised in the Philippines. Vanessa and her siblings were born and raised in the United States. She started acting as a background actor in commercials in New Orleans. Since then she has been in independent short films and has appeared on TV in Tyler Perry's "The Oval" and on Amazon Prime's original "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things." She is a voiceover artist who has narrated over 15 audio books, both fiction and nonfiction. Vanessa graduated from George Washington University and served in the Navy for almost ten years. She received her voiceover training through the NOLA Voice Talent Foundation in New Orleans and her acting coaches are veteran film and TV actors Gary Grubbs and James DuMont.