Many people would agree that the best sitcoms ever produced were made in the 90s. As for those that were geared towards African Americans, there were fewer sitcoms than the likes of The Cosby Show, Martin, and Affaires de famille, which could rival The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in terms of acclaim, reception, impact and longevity.
The show explores black class differences and a black-on-black bias that follows the life of a smart teenager who had to leave his home in West Philadelphia to live with his wealthy uncle and aunt in Los Angeles’ affluent Bel Air neighborhood. Angeles, in order to escape from a fight. This premise was loosely based on the real-life story of record executive Benny Medina, who produced the series.
Here’s everything there is to know about the actors and actresses who have appeared on the show; how they started their career and what they did after the show ended.
Fresh Prince of Bel Air Cast
Will Smith
Will Smith played a fictionalized version of himself named Will Smith aka The Fresh Prince in the sitcom. The show, which NBC had built around the musician, was the starting point for his acting career as it was his first acting role. Smith, who at the time had just won a Grammy Award, proved sensational with the acclaimed film Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
From then on, Will Smith went on to appear in hit movies like Independence Day (1996), Wild Wild West (1999), Ali (2001), I Robot (2004), The Pursuit of Happiness (2006), Concussion (2015), and the film Bad Boys and Men in Blackseries. In 2016, it was reported that Smith’s films had grossed over $7.5 billion at the worldwide box office. He also received five Golden Globe Award nominations and two Oscars for his various roles.
James Avery
James Avery played Philip Banksaka’s character Uncle Phil, Will Smith’s wealthy uncle who lived in Bel Air. His outstanding portrayal of the character on the show earned him a spot on TV Guide’s “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time” list.
Unlike Smith, Avery had already embarked on an acting career before landing the role. He had appeared in films like 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) and Nightflyers (1987), as well as television series like Amen (1986-1988, 1989), FM (1989), and LA Law (1988-1992 ). ). He had also voiced the supervillain character Shredder in the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1993). After the show ended, he continued to appear in various films and series and also lent his voice to different characters (animations and video games) before meeting his untimely death in December 2013.
James Avery has died following open-heart surgery at Glendale Memorial Medical Center. His remains were cremated and were believed to have been scattered near the Pacific Ocean. He was 68 years old.
Janet Hubert-Whitten
For the first three seasons of The Fresh Prince from 1990 to 1993, Bel Air’s Janet Hubert-Whitten played the character of Vivian Banks. For her performance on the show, she was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991.
Hubert, who had received a scholarship to attend the prestigious Juilliard School in New York but had not completed his studies, made his film debut as an artist. 21 Jump Street (1988). She was also the original Tantomile of the first Broadway Cat series. After firing from the show, the actress landed recurring roles on TV series like The Work (2001-2002) and One Life to Live (2005, 2010). She has also appeared on shows like All My Children, Gilmore Girls, Friends, NYPD Blue, The Bernie Mac Show, and Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, among others. In late 2018, she made her debut on General Hospital’s daytime soap opera where she plays the character of Yvonne.
Daphne Maxwell Reid
Daphne Maxwell Reid joined the cast of FreshPrince of Bel Air in 1993 following the dismissal of Janet Hubert-Whitten for breach of contract and poor working relationship with Will Smith. She played the character of Vivian Banks, aka Aunt Viv, wife of Uncle Phil.
Reid had worked as a model before earning a degree in interior design and architecture from Northwestern University. She signed a contract with Eileen Ford’s modeling agency and was the first black woman to cover Glamor magazine. She began her acting career in 1979, landing roles in the series The Duke and A Man Called Sloane. After Fresh Prince ended, Reid appeared in Sister Sister (1996), Crossing Jordan (2004), and Eve (2003-2006). In 2011, she played Juanita Lawrence on the BET sitcom Let’s Stay Together
Alfonso Ribeiro
Alfonso Ribeiro played the character of CarltonBanks, cousin of the character of Will Smith and son of that of James Avery, in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The role proved to be a breakthrough for him as he moved on to bigger things, although it was not his first gig.
Ribeiro started his career when he was 8 years old. It wasn’t until he was 12, however, that he gained recognition for his role in the Broadway musical. The tap kid (1983), which earned him a nomination for the Circle of External Critics award. He then appeared in a Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson and then landed a recurring role on Silver Spoons (1984-1987), among other shows, before being portrayed by Carlton Banks.
After The Fresh Prince ended in 1996, Ribeiro appeared in another NBC sitcom, In the House (1996-1999), before embarking on a career as a director and television show host. In addition to directing an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995, Ribeiro directed several episodes of series like We All Meet the Browns, and Are We There Already? . More recently, between 2015 and 2018, he directed episodes of the Disney comedy series, KC Undercover. Since 2015, Ribeiro has been the host of the television series. Funniest American Videos and Unwrapped 2.0. He has also been on numerous game shows, only managing to win season 19 of Dancing with the Stars in 2014.
Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons, like many others who have succeeded, got a big break after spending six years on the show. Santa Monica High School graduate, who had appeared on episodes of shows like The Bronx Zoo (1987), Hunter (1988), and CBS Summer Playhouse (1988), before making his film debut in Death Spa (1989 ), played the role of Hilary Banks, cousin of Will Smith’s character.
After the show ended, Parsons co-created, co-produced, co-wrote and co-starred on the sitcom Lush Life (1996) which was unfortunately canceled after just four episodes. She also acted in films like: Major Payne (1995) and L’homme à femmes (2000), then in the series Le travail (2001-2002). After these roles, Parsons created a series of animated films about unsung black heroes, named Sweet Blackberry.
Recently, the actress and comedian chose to return to acting, appearing in the short film The Monday of Last Week (2017) and the series Mouche (2018).
Tatyana M. Ali
Actress and singer Tatyana Ali starred as Ashley Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. For her performance, she received multiple nominations at the NAACP Image Awards, Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, and Young Artist Awards, and won a few.
The New York native, who is of Panamanian and Indo-Trinidadian descent, started her acting career as a regular performer on Sesame Street when she was 6 years old. She appeared twice on Star Search and performed a musical number with Herbie Hancock before taking a sitcom hiatus. In 1996, during the show’s final season, Ali began work on his debut album, Kissing the Sky, which spawned hit songs like ‘Daydreamin’, ‘Boy You Knock Me Out’ with Will Smith and ‘Everytime’. . The album was certified Gold in early 1999.
While pursuing his musical interests and appearing in films like Brother (2000), National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze (2003), Ali attended Harvard University, where he earned a BA in African American Studies and public administration. After that, she played the award-winning role of Roxanne in The Young and the Restless (2007-2013), then Tyana Jones in Love That Girl! (2010-2012), among many others. Recently, she appeared in Mouche (2018) and voiced the character of Bree’s Mom in Fancy Nancy (2018).
Joseph Marcell
British actor and comedian Joseph Marcell played the role of the Banks family butler, Geoffrey Butler. A graduate in theater and science from the University of Sheffield, he was a member of the show from 1990 to 1996. Like a few on the show, Butler was already an established actor before taking on the role. He appeared frequently on British television and in feature films, as well as being a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, in productions of Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
After leaving the end of the show, Marcell continued his acting. He recently starred in plays The Tempest (2016) as Gonzalo in Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London and Lady Windermere’s Fan (2018) as Lord Lorton in the Vaudeville Theatre, London. He also appeared in the Chiwetel Ejiofor directed film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) and sits on the board of the Globe Theater in London.
Ross Bagley
A newcomer to The New Prince of Bel Air, Ross Bagley played the character of Nicky Banks. He joined the show in September 1994 for its fifth season and lasted until it ended in May 1996 after its sixth season. The child actor who in 1994 portrayed Buckwheat in the feature film adaptation of The Little Rascals, went on to appear in Independence Day (1996) as Dylan Dubrow-Hiller alongside Will Smith .
In the 2000s, Bagley stepped away from his acting career to study film and television at California State University in Northridge. Sources say he might want to return to the screen when he appeared as Landon in Gnome Alone (2015).