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"I was only 11 when we filmed the pilot. The idea of a rapper being a star on a sitcom just wasn't heard of."

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Will Smith may have been the star of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-96), but the series was just as much about its stellar supporting cast. The nerdy Carlton, tough-but-compassionate Uncle Phil, snobby Hilary, Geoffrey, Jazz, and of course, Ashley Banks, the younger sister of the family. Tatyana Ali brought a natural charisma to Ashley that truly rounded out the Banks family, making for a rare sitcom where audiences looked forward to the supporting cast subplots just as much as they did the wackier misadventures of Will, Carlton and Jazz.

Can You Tell Me How To Get...

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Born January 24, 1979 in North Bellmore, NY, to parents Sheriff and Sonia Ali, Tatyana Ali's career started with Sesame Street (1985), where she was a series regular at six years old. Here she made an impression as a singer, performing with jazz legend Herbie Hancock. She followed this up with a memorable performance on Star Search, singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." During her early career she featured in Eddie Murphy: RAW (1987) in a sketch as Eddie's sister, and had a brief appearance in Crocodile Dundee II (1988).

Singing was one of Tatyana's earliest passions, but this dream would ultimately be put on a temporary hiatus after she was cast in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What started as a shorter engagement on a pilot instantly became one of the biggest shows of the decade, making overnight TV stars of all of the main cast and launching Will Smith towards superstardom. Tatyana Ali's natural chemistry with Will proved to be a cornerstone of the show. Where Will had to show-off to impress Jazz, sneak behind Phil's back and often saw Carlton as a fall-guy, Ashley Banks was the one member of the Banks household with whom Will could be himself, and it is difficult to imagine the series becoming a success without such a strong supporting cast.

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The relationship between the two actors wasn't so different behind the camera as in front of it, with Will Smith having encouraged Tatyana to continue with her music career when she had the chance. As the final season of the series started winding down, Ali started working on her album Kiss the Sky (1998), leading with the single "Daydreamin'," which cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at number 6 and helped the album to go certified gold by 1999. Will Smith featured on another single from the album, "Boy You Knock Me Out," which hit number 3 in the UK.

"Videos are more like photography. It's not as much about trying to tell a story as it is creating images."

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Kiss the Sky wound up being Tatyana Ali's only full length album, but she has stayed busy as a singer all the same, featuring on "Yes We Can" (2008) produced by will.i.am for the first Barack Obama presidential campaign, and released an EP, Hello (2014), with the single "Wait For It."

Througout her teens and young adulthood, she balanced her budding singing career with acting and education. She graduated from Harvard University in 2002 with a bachelor's in Government and African-American studies, and even wound up marrying into academia, becoming engaged to Stanford University English professor Vaughn Rasberry in 2016.

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"I'm going to go to school. It doesn't matter what the outcome is as long as I did it. I can say I did it."

Staying Busy

While Ashley Banks stands as Tatyana Ali's biggest acting role to date in terms of sheer cultural impact, she's as busy today as she's ever been, and it's easy to spot the young actress while channel-surfing. She continues to feature in several movies and TV shows a year, including small parts on Key & Peele (2015) and Hollywood Darlings (2018), and main cast parts for sixteen episodes of Fly (2018), fifty-three episodes of The Young and the Restless (2007-13) as Roxanne, and even an appearance on cult comedy series The Eric Andre Show (2012), where she proved to be a good sport enduring Andre's bizarre interviewing style. The two even wound up dating for a brief time, which may be a bit surprising considering how awkward their initial encounter seemed to be. "I think I was supposed to be more freaked out than I actually was."

She continues to sing, as well, contributing to albums The Legacy of Nu Soul (2016) and Music to Inspire (2017) with the tracks "He Loves Me" and "Ghost Town" respectively. Tatyana Ali continues to build a legacy as one of the most charming and talented young renaissance women of her generation.

"I never set out to be a role model, but I guess parents like it because I am dedicated to school."