Tatyana Ali - bio, picture, video

Before everyone knew who Tatyana Ali was, they only knew who Ashley Banks was – Will Smith’s little sister on the hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Smith might have outshone Ali (and just about everyone else) by being the titular character of the show, but Tatyana has more than made a name for herself since!

Of course, she didn’t get her start on The Fresh Prince. No, she made her television debut at the age of four, guest starring on an episode of Sesame Street opposite jazz legend Herbie Hancock. By the time she was seven, she had become a two-time winner on the television show Star Search with Ed McMahon.

Tatyana flexed her singing muscles a few times on The Fresh Prince. After the show was over, she released her first album entitled Kiss the Sky, which went gold in 1999. Kiss the Sky featured the hit song Daydreamin’, which reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two more of her songs, Boy You Knock Me Out and Everytime (both featuring Will Smith), made a big splash in the UK and did very well on the UK Singles chart. She also helped Smith with the song Who Am I off of his Willennium album.

In 2005, she starred in the film Glory Road with Josh Lucas, a film about the 1966 NCAA Men’s Division Basketball Championship. Lucas played Texas Western College coach Don Haskins, who led a team with an all-black starting lineup, which was a first in NCAA history.

That year, Tatyana Ali also starred in the music video for Can I live, a song by Nick Cannon and Anthony Hamilton. Ali played Cannon’s mother.

In January 2007, she signed a deal with Motown Records to produce her second album.

Check out the video for her hit song Daydreamin’.