Alfonso Ribeiro Says ‘Fresh Prince’ Was ‘The Greatest and Worst’
May 20, 2024
Alfonso Ribeiro is opening up about the highs and lows that came with his breakout role on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Alfonso Ribeiro is opening up about his 40-year entertainment career and the highs and lows that came with his breakout role on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
While Ribeiro became a household name with his character Carlton Banks and his signature “Carlton dance,” the “Dancing with the Stars” co-host cites all of the “sacrifice” that came with the high-profile gig.
“Playing Carlton on Fresh Prince became a sacrifice. I used to always say doing Carlton was the greatest and worst thing that ever happened to me,” Ribeiro tells Closer Weekly.
“It was one of the greatest roles that I ever was fortunate enough to play, but it was also the role that stopped me from acting again because people couldn’t see me as anything else. The sacrifice was not having an acting career anymore.”
Ribeiro starred in all six seasons of “Fresh Prince” which ran from September 1990 to May 1996. He appeared in two films during the popular sitcom’s run, but didn’t land a consistent TV gig after the show ended until his role of Dr. Maxwell Stanton on “In The House.”
Since then, Ribeiro has maintained a presence as a television host on “Dancing with the Stars,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” and Jack Hanna’s “Passport” on ABC. He’s the perfect fit on “DWTS” after coming in first place on Season 19 of the show in 2014.
Despite the success he’s seeing now in hosting, Ribeiro says he’s still open to returning to acting.
“I’m enjoying being a host and am very happy with it. But, yes, I would go back to acting if it was exactly the right thing,” he shared.
As for what Ribiero considers to be his big break, the Bronx, New York native believes it was his Broadway debut in “The Tap Dance Kid” which helped him land the lead in a Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson.
“Clearly, The Tap Dance Kid. Playing the title character in a Broadway show was a big deal,” he explained. “Then I got a second big break when I did the Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson in 1984. That really broke me out of the New York area and gave me some worldwide notoriety.”
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