american actress and singer tatiana marisol ali was born the oldest of three sisters in north
belmore new york to an indo-trinidadian father and an afro-panamanian mother tatiana began her acting
career in 1985 at the age of six when she became a regular performer on the children's educational
program sesame street want to do me a favor what could you just say your name into this microphone
also like many future stars before and after her she also made an appearance in two episodes of
reality talent competition show star search she also took part in a handful of on and off-broadway
stage productions eventually at the age of 11 tatiana's family would relocate to los angeles
in order for her to pursue a professional acting career it would turn out to be a great decision
shortly after their move she'd land her breakout role in 1990 when she was cast as ashley banks
on the nbc sitcom the fresh prince of bel air hey there lord my name is ashley banks my family
and friends want to give you some thanks so before this dinner's all swollen and chewed
thank you god for this stupid food she would play the role throughout the series entire six year run
when the show first started tatiana played the naive youngest child of the bank's family then one
day during a karaoke themed wrap party the script supervisor asked her to sing his favorite song
the donna summer hit she works hard for the money she did and it was clear that her talent should
be written into the show so the idea was born to create a storyline surrounding will trying
to cash in on his cousin's talent for her efforts tatiana's been awarded several accolades including
the kids choice awards for favorite tv actress in 1996 the image award for outstanding youth
actor or actress and the young star award for best performance by a young actress in a comedy
tv series both in 1997. after her vocal talent was featured on several episodes of fresh prince
which included performances of aretha franklin's respect as well as her own track make up your mind
will smith asked her if she would seriously consider pursuing a musical career
she did sign with his production company but ultimately for the time being continue to focus
on acting when the time was right tatiana finally burst onto the music scene in the summer of 1998
with her debut single called daydreaming it became a top 10 hit on the billboard hot 100.
her debut album titled kiss the sky was released the following month and would go on to achieve
gold status it spawned two other singles every time and boy you knocked me out featuring her
fresh prince co-star she returned the favor and made an appearance on will's album willennium
on the track who am i with m.c light then tatiana went radio silent even with all the career success
she was experiencing tatiana wouldn't let that dissuade her from pursuing higher education during
that time other aspects of her life naturally now had to be balanced with her academic commitments
in 2002 she graduated from harvard university with a bachelor's degree in african american studies
and government still some questioned why her music career never took off the way it did for some of
her contemporaries such as brandy monica maya and destiny's child there's no definitive answer but
one could speculate a number of things like she didn't have the right team behind her
or she just preferred acting over singing or another very real possibility
could be fans having trouble viewing her as anything other than cute little ashley banks
in 2014 she sat down with vlad tv and reminisced about her fondest memories of her singing days
she did reveal that her favorite part of it all was getting to perform and travel
all over the world with the likes of nsync and the backstreet boys in early 2008 tatyana led her
voice on williams promotional single yes we can supporting barack obama's presidential campaign
apart from her musical career tatiana continued to land roles in numerous films such as the brothers
glory road and nora's hair salon from 2009 to 2010 she produced and starred in the bet web series
buppies after that she starred in the tv one original series love that girl for the next two
years she also secured a recurring role on the soap opera the young and the restless from 2007
to 2013. music finally took center stage again 15 years later when tatiana debuted brand new music
with the release of her first ep titled hello first introduced to the public by a five-minute
abstract short film on her social media it features a more mature tatiana than the boy
crazy 19 year old fans remember on her debut she sings about finding confidence in herself
heartbreak and learning to let go a couple of years later tatiana would marry english professor
dr vaughn raspberry in 2016 they would go on to have two children in november 2020 the entire
cast of the fresh prince of bel air reunited on an hbo max special to celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the show to tatiana's surprise many fans reached out to ask about her music
so after basking in the glow of all the positive feedback tatiana took to instagram several days
later and honored her followers requests to hear her sing again and belted out an amazing acapella
rendition of make up your mind only time will tell if tatiana will ever officially return to music
in recent years she's focused on her acting career starring in a string of feel-good hallmark movies
as well as being the voice of mrs james in the disney animated series
fancy nancy she's also very much invested in her off-screen roles as a devoted wife and mother
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