What The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Cast Looks Like Today

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" is a story all about how a teenager named Will (Will Smith) got sent to live with his wealthy relatives in California for a better life. The ensuing culture clash between Philadelphia-raised Will and his Bel Air aunt, uncle, and cousins kept audiences entertained between 1990 and 1996 — not to mention launching the career of one of the highest-paid actors of all time. 

Though primarily a star vehicle for Smith, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" wouldn't have worked without a talented cast surrounding the rapper-turned-actor. James Avery played tough but fair Uncle Phil; Janet Hubert and Daphne Maxwell Reid took turns playing Aunt Viv; and Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons, Tatyana M. Ali, and Ross Bagley played cousins Carlton, Hilary, Ashley, and Nicky, respectively. Rounding out the regular cast was Joseph Marcell, who stole countless scenes as jaded butler Geoffrey. And then recurring for all six seasons were Vernee Watson-Johnson as Will's biological mom and DJ Jazzy Jeff as Will's best friend from Philly. 

It was a stellar group of actors who came together to make "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" one of the best TV shows of the '90s. It's been nearly 30 years since the series finale, so it should be interesting to see what the nine main and two biggest recurring cast members are up to these day, and how time has treated them.

Of all the cast members of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," Alfonso Ribeiro was the only one who had already had a main role on a successful American television show. Before he played Carlton Banks, the preppy foil to cousin Will, Ribeiro played the main role of Alfonso Spears for Seasons 3 through 5 of "Silver Spoons." He had also made appearances on "Magnum, P.I." and "A Different World."

Before "Fresh Prince" even ended, Ribeiro had already dipped his toe into the world of hosting when he was featured on "An Evening at the Improv" and "Soul Train." Though he continued to act — including as a cast member of LL Cool J sitcom "In the House" and the 2005 film "Love Wrecked" — Ribeiro's post-Carlton career on screen has consisted primarily of hosting gigs. Among the shows that Ribeiro has either been a guest or full-time host are "America's Funniest Home Videos," "GSN Live," "Catch 21," "Access Hollywood," "Entertainment Tonight," "Unwrapped 2.0," and "The Talk." 

Off screen, Ribeiro is also a prolific television director. He first sat in the chair for a Season 6 episode of "Fresh Prince," and has since helmed episodes of "In the House," "All of Us," "Meet the Browns," "Are We There Yet?," "Shake It Up," and "K.C. Undercover," to name just a few. 

It was often a good cop/bad cop situation with Will's aunt and uncle, with Aunt Viv typically taking the good cop role and having to constantly remind Uncle Phil how hard it was for Will to adjust to his new life in Bel Air. The fact that Aunt Viv was the sister to Will's mom likely played a part in that dynamic. For the first three seasons, she was played by Janet Hubert. As to why the role of Aunt Viv was recast on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" from Season 4 onward, there was some friction behind the scenes in regard to contracts and the working relationship between Hubert and Will Smith.

Hubert spent many years being very vocal about what led to her departing the show, and was often critical of Smith in particular. As such, it was a shock when she actually agreed to participate in the 2020 HBO Max "Fresh Prince" reunion special, during which she seemed to mend fences with Smith and lay to rest the bad feelings she'd been harboring towards the show as a whole. 

But Hubert stayed plenty busy as an actor after vacating the role of Aunt Viv, particularly on television. She spent some time as a regular cast member on both "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital," played Denise Clinton in the massively successful video game "Grand Theft Auto V," and appeared on shows like "Pose," "New Amsterdam," "The Ms. Pat Show," and "Sweet Magnolias."

Other than Will Smith himself, the first member of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" cast that you see in the show's pilot episode is Geoffrey, the Banks family butler — who Will initially mistakes for Uncle Phil. It takes actor Joseph Marcell no time at all to establish that Geoffrey has an underlying snark that threatens to betray his otherwise staunch professionalism, as well as the fact that he's going to steal just about every scene he is in. And he does exactly that for all six seasons of "Fresh Prince."

British actor Marcell had already accumulated a sizable filmography prior to his debut as Geoffrey. In addition to some British television work — including being a main cast member of the BBC series "Empire Road" in 1978 — Marcell had appeared in the acclaimed 1987 biopic "Cry Freedom." He later became a regular cast member of the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" as well as the BBC sitcom "Mammoth." He also appeared in an episode of the Netflix series "Ratched." In the second half of the 2010s and into the 2020s, Marcell really ramped up his big-screen work, a venue he had previously only dabbled in.

On top of his film and television output, Marcell is also an award-winning stage actor going back to the 1970s and has continued to do live theater as recently as 2024. And speaking of 2024, that's also the year that Marcell made a cameo on "Bel-Air," Peacock's dramatic reimagining of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." 

Though adding a new baby to a show's ensemble is often among the biggest jump-the-shark moments in TV history, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" saw the birth of Nicholas "Nicky" Banks — the fourth child of Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv — in Season 3, and it didn't spell immediate disaster for the show. In fact, "Fresh Prince" would continue for three more seasons, with Seasons 5 and 6 seeing Nicky go from being just a baby to a fully-speaking regular cast member. And for that time on the show, he was portrayed by actor Ross Bagley.

Bagley bookended his time on "Fresh Prince" with his two biggest roles as a child actor — his screen debut as Buckwheat in the 1994 "Little Rascals" movie, and reteaming with Will Smith for "Independence Day" in 1996. After that, Bagley did a few one-episode appearances on a other TV shows, and the films "Gnome Alone" and "Dead Ringer," both in 2015, encompass his most recent screen credits. According to his Instagram account, which he only very sporadically updates, Bagley is also a realtor and a DJ. 

Even though the entire premise of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" is that Will's mom got scared and said he's moving with his auntie and uncle to Bel Air, it doesn't mean she never appeared on the show herself. In fact, Viola "Vy" Smith was a recurring character who appeared in 15 episodes across all six seasons. She frequently came out to visit both her son and sister, and at one point, even encouraged Will to come back to Philly after he finished high school in Los Angeles. He opted to stay, naturally — the show isn't called "The Fresh Prince Moves Back To West Philadelphia," after all.

Vy was played by Vernee Watson-Johnson, who was arguably the most notable actor on the show when "The Fresh Prince" first started. She had already had main or recurring roles on "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Good Times," "Carter Country," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," and "Benson" by that point. Watson-Johnson had also established herself as a prolific voice actor as well, with main roles on the shows "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics" and "Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels," as well as 1987's "G.I. Joe: The Movie." 

She continued working steadily both on screen and via voice roles steadily between the ending of "Fresh Prince" into the 2020s, with recent roles including being a main cast member of "Bob Hearts Abishola" and appearances on "Shrinking" and "Bel-Air." Watson-Johnson also won back-to-back Daytime Emmy Awards in 2018 and 2019 for outstanding guest performer in a drama series for playing Stella Henry on "General Hospital."

Before Nicky came along, the youngest Banks child was Ashley. She took a liking to Will more quickly than almost anyone else in the house, in a position to look up to him and think he was cool rather than embarrassing and disruptive. And in turn, Will was able to expose her to more culture than her older siblings got as they grew up. Surprisingly, despite only being 11 years old when "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" began, Ashley actress Tatyana M. Ali already had a fair amount of acting work under her belt.

Ali had been a recurring actor on "Sesame Street" between 1984 and 1990, as well as appearing in an episode of "The Cosby Show." She also had a small role in the movie "Crocodile Dundee II," as well as in the filmed skit at the beginning of the comedy concert film "Eddie Murphy Raw." After her time on "Fresh Prince" came to a close, Ali started to do a lot more movies, such as "Jawbreaker," "The Brothers," "Glory Road," and "National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze." 

In addition to acting, Ali worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, capitalizing on the political science degree she earned from Harvard. She is also a singer, duetting on a single with Will Smith called "Boy You Knock Me Out" in 1998, while continuing to occasionally release new music into the 2010s. 

Though Aunt Viv's character remained mostly unchanged after Janet Hubert left "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," replacement actor Daphne Maxwell Reid did seem to bring a slightly softer edge to the character for her run in the role. Unfortunately, when the world reflects on the show now, the focus seems to be looking inside the tumultuous "Fresh Prince" feud between Will Smith and Janet Hubert, with Reid's work on the show often unfairly overshadowed as a result — this despite the fact that she and Hubert split the number of episodes they each played Aunt Viv almost exactly down the middle.

It would seem as though the producers behind "Fresh Prince" wanted a television veteran to take over the Aunt Viv role, and they certainly found that with Reid. She'd been a TV mainstay going back to the 1970s, a series regular on "Simon & Simon" and "Frank's Place" as well as a frequent fixture on celebrity panel game shows "Super Password," "The New Hollywood Squares," and "Match Game." Post-"Fresh Prince," beyond a main role on a 1998 Showtime series called "Linc's" and a recurring role on the sitcom "Eve," Reid mostly did one- or two-episode appearances on various television shows. She also appeared in two episodes of "Bel-Air," playing an art council board member along with Vernee Watson-Johnson.

While Will Smith saw his biggest success as a musician when he was recording under his own name in the late-'90s with hits like "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" and "Men in Black," he started out rapping under the pseudonym Fresh Prince. To be more specific, it was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince who released the singles "Summertime," "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble," and more between 1984 and 1994. DJ Jazzy Jeff, real name Jeff Townes, came along with Smith on his television journey — he played Jazz, Will's best friend, in recurring appearances across the entire series. And in almost every one of those appearances, Jazz is literally tossed out of the house by Uncle Phil after saying something offensive.

"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" remains Townes's only actual acting credit, with the producer and DJ instead continuing to focus on his music career even as his old pal went off to become a massive movie star. In addition to collaborating with Will Smith as a producer and co-writer on some of Smith's solo music, Townes has also worked with numerous other artists including Eminem, The Roots, Mac Miller, and The Black-Eyed Peas. In 2024, he was one of the supporting acts for the New Kids on the Block on their Summer Magic Tour. 

Hilary Banks always leaned very heavily into the trope of the spoiled L.A. girl whose entire life was consumed with fashion and materialism. Though she would eventually get much some more depth and have great storylines all her own, she was initially mostly on the show to walk in with shopping bags on her arms, make some quip about needing to borrow money from her dad to do even more shopping, and exit. But that's not to take away from how funny of a character she was, or how well she was played by actor Karyn Parsons.

Parsons has done fairly little acting outside of her role on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Her biggest films are Kid 'n Play comedy "Class Act," Damon Wayans's "Major Payne," and the "SNL" movie "The Ladies Man." On television, she had lead roles on "Lush Life" and "The Job," but neither went beyond two seasons. Since voicing the character Tracy Flackman in one episode of the 2002 animated series "Static Shock," Parsons hasn't had any more TV acting credits. Instead, she has spent most of her time in the 2000s and beyond as an animated film producer and children's book author, both focusing on stories about black historical figures. 

Various TV characters and the actors who played them have taken on the title of "America's dad" over the years. And for both older millennials and younger Gen Xers, Uncle Phil definitely fit the bill of being "America's uncle." Though he and Will would often butt heads, Uncle Phil very quickly became the father figure Will never had, striking the perfect balance between warmth and tough love. And in much the same way, actor James Avery took Will Smith under his wing and helped him reach beyond goofy sitcom mugging to find the full depth of his talents over the course of the show.

The same generations grew up with Uncle Phil also saw Avery play another major character in their formative years — he was the original voice of Shredder in the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series. His pre-Uncle Phil career was similarly full of both on-screen and voiceover performances in both film and television, though it was the two aforementioned roles that served as his breakthroughs in their respective arenas. And so it went for the rest of his career after "Fresh Prince," from recurring roles on "The Division," "The Closer," and "Sparks" to voice work in "The Proud Family," "Extreme Ghostbusters," and the "Aladdin" animated series. 

Avery passed away in 2014 at age 68 due to complications from heart surgery. After his death, Smith posted a tribute on Facebook (via The Hollywood Reporter), writing, "Some of my greatest lessons in Acting, Living and being a respectable human being came through James Avery."

While "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" never would've worked without its perfectly-crafted and meticulously-cast ensemble, the whole thing did ultimately fall on the shoulders of main character Will. Will showed up to the stuffy Banks residence with all of his loud, proud, Philly cool on display, and was going to neither tone it down nor ever stop trying to make his family members the best versions of themselves. Of course, he was also one of the funniest and most charming sitcom characters of all time, which certainly helped.

There are a number of singers that tried to break into acting but failed miserably. It's not an easy shift to make, and success in one industry doesn't automatically translate to success in the other. But if anyone has set the blueprint for how to do that correctly, it's Will Smith, effortlessly making the transition from Grammy-winning rapper to one of the biggest movie stars of all time. Before his time on "Fresh Prince" was even finished, Smith had already established his leading man prowess with "Bad Boys." He then followed that up with "Independence Day" and "Men in Black," a three-year, three-movie run on a level that few actors ever get lucky enough to have — let alone as their first three big starring roles. 

Though the infamous Oscars slap and various other career missteps have dulled the shine on Smith's star power in recent years, he still remains one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars, something that arguably only happened because of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."