Tatyana Ali

born on 24/1/1979 in Long Island, NY, United States

Tatyana Ali

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tatyana Ali
Born January 24 1979
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

Tatyana Marisol Ali (born January 24, 1979) is an American actress and R&B singer, best known for her role as Ashley Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.[1]

Early life

Tatyana Marisol Ali was born in Long Island, New York. Her mother Sonia was a nurse and is of African American and Panamanian descent. Her father Sherriff Ali is of Indo-Trinidadian descent. She has two younger sisters, Anastasia and Kimberly.

She attended Grand Avenue Junior High School in Bellmore, New York, Marymount High School in West Los Angeles, California, and The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. In 2002, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science and African American studies from Harvard University.[2]

Career

By the age of six, Ali had begun her acting career. She was a regular child performer on Sesame Street starting in 1985, even appearing with Herbie Hancock in a musical number. She also appeared on Star Search two times.

She made her breakthrough when she was cast as Ashley Banks for the television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990. She sang on various episodes of the show, including a heavily altered Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and the original song, "Make Up Your Mind" produced by Robert Jerald of N'Spyre Music Productions. Will Smith asked her if she seriously considered pursuing a musical career. Despite her singing ability, she concentrated on her acting career on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the next few years.

In the final season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995-1996, Ali began preparing herself for her musical debut. The result was the album Kiss The Sky, which was certified gold in early 1999. The album spawned the hit song "Daydreamin'", produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, which peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart.

The album spawned two further UK hits, "Boy You Knock Me Out", featuring Will Smith, which peaked at #3 and is her biggest hit to date; and "Everytime", which was her third top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at #20. She made an appearance in Smith's album Willennium for the track "Who Am I" with MC Lyte.

Along with her musical career, Tatyana kept acting in many films. She had the chance to work with recognized film directors such as Takeshi Kitano (Brother), Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child), among others.

In 2005, she completed work on the film Glory Road and starred in the music video for Nick Cannon and Anthony Hamilton's "Can I Live?" as Cannon's mother.

In early 2008, she performed on the song Yes We Can, a Will.i.am project supporting Barack Obamas presidential campaign. She also appeared in the subsequent music video which gained coverage on the "What the Buzz" segment of ABCs World News Now.

She is currently preparing to release her second album, which she describes as "an independent effort".[3] The album is titled "The Light". Much of the album's production was being handled by famed Tupac Shakur's producer Johnny "J".

She also performed the title song, "Sunny Valentine" along with Terrence Quaites for the indie film, "Rockin' Meera" directed by Param Gill in 2005.

She is also producing and starring in the BET web show, Buppies. She is currently on recurring status on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Roxanne.[4]

Ali currently can be seen in the show, Love That Girl! on TV One. She stars as Tyana (which comes from the last five letters of her name). When asked if the character has any similarities to her, Tatyana said in a recent CaribPress interview, "She's a bit neurotic and I hope I am not quite like that."[1].

"One thing that I do love about her is that she is really multidimensional," she went on to say in the same interview. "I think it's nice to have a female character that is portrayed in (a) really holistic way."[1]

Tatyana also played in "Nora's Hair Salon" and "Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above."

In 2011, Tatyana received the Living Legacy Award from the Caribbean Heritage Organization in Los Angeles.[1][5]

Personal life

Ali dated the actor Jonathan Brandis.[2]

Ali traveled the United States as a spokesperson for Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign. Ali headed voter registration drives at college campuses.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Eddie Murphy Raw Eddie's Sister Sketch Segment
1988 Crocodile Dundee II Park Girl
1988 Wow, You're a Cartoonist! Child Cartoonist Short film
Direct-to-Video release
1997 Fakin' da Funk Karyn
1997 Kiss the Girls Janell Cross
1998 The Clown at Midnight Monica
1999 Jawbreaker Brenda
2000 Brother Latifa
2001 The Brothers Cherie Smith
2003 National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze Claire
2004 Nora's Hair Salon Lilleana
2005 Back in the Day Alicia Packer
2005 Domino One Laeticia Richards
2006 Glory Road Tina Malichi
2006 A Warm Place Clair Andrews Short film
2007 The List Cynthia
2008 Down & Out Short film
2008 Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above Lilleana
2008 Hotel California Jessie
2009 Mother and Child Maria
2011 Love That Girl! Tyana
2010 Privileged Talia awaiting release
2010 Locker 13 Lucy awaiting release
2010 The Misguided Adventures of Dating in Hollywood Troi pre-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985,
1990
Sesame Street Tatyana 4 episodes
1989 Wally and the Valentines Jamaica Valentine TV-Special
1989 A Man Called Hawk Michelle Episode: Life After Death
1989 The Cosby Show Girl Episode: Shall We Dance?
1990
1996
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Ashley Banks 148 episodes
1993 Getting By Nicole Alexander Episode: Turnabout Dance
1994 Are You Afraid of the Dark? Laura Turner/Connie Turner Episode: The Tale of the Quicksilver
1994 TV's Funniest Families Host TV-Special
1995 In the House Ashley Banks Episode: Dog Catchers
1996 Living Single Stephanie James Episode: Whatever Happened to Baby Sister?
1996 Kidz in the Wood Rita TV-Movie
1996 Fall Into Darkness Sharon McKay TV-Movie
1997 413 Hope St. Kai Episode: Heartbeat
2002 Fastlane Shelly Episode: Girls Own Juice
2003 Half & Half Olivia Episode: The Big Condom-nation Episode
2007 On the Lot Girl Episode: 11 Cut to 10 & 10 Directors Compete
Segment: First Sight
2007-2010 The Young and the Restless Roxanne
2010
present
Love That Girl! Tyana Jones Lead role

Discography

Albums
  • 1998: Kiss the Sky (#47 US, #41 UK, Certified Gold)
Chart Performance
Year Song U.S. U.S. R&B UK[6] NZ[7] FRA[8] NET[9] Album
1998 "Day Dreamin'" 6 5 6 3 Kiss The Sky
"Boy You Knock Me Out" (featuring Will Smith) 68 3 12 32 77
1999 "Everytime" 118 73 20
"Kiss the Sky" (featuring Marion) 9
2005 "Can I Live" - - - - Nick Cannon-Music Video

Awards and nominations

NAACP Image Awards
  • 1996: Won, "Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 1997: Nominated, "Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 2010: Nominated, "Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama"  The Young and the Restless
  • 2011: Nominated, "Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series" - Love That Girl!
  • 2011: Won, "Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama"  The Young and the Restless
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
  • 1996: Nominated, "Favorite Television Actress"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Young Artist Award
  • 1991: Won, "Best Young Actress Starring in a New Television Series"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 1992: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 1993: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 1994: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • 1995: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series"  Name Your Adventure"
YoungStar Award
  • 1997: Won, "Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series"  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Caribbean Heritage Organization
  • 2011: Recipient, Living Legacy Award[1][5]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 (August/September 2011)"The talented Ms. Ali:an interview with Tatyana". CaribPress Newsmagazine.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Tatyana Ali. Tatyana Ali. Askmen.com. Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  3. Tatyana Ali. Tatyanaalionline.com. Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  4. "The Young and the Restless" Episode #1.8728 (2007)
  5. 5.0 5.1 (August/September 2011)"Caribbean Heritage Salute in Hollywood". CaribPress Newsmagazine.
  6. The Official Charts Company. ali/ TATYANA ALI - The Official Charts Company. TheOfficialCharts.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-22.
  7. Steffen Hung. New Zealand charts portal. Charts.org.nz. Retrieved on 2010-08-02.
  8. Steffen Hung (1999-03-13). Les charts français. lescharts.com. Retrieved on 2010-07-26.
  9. Steffen Hung. Dutch charts portal. Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved on 2010-08-02.

External links

This page was last modified 03.09.2011 23:04:01

This article uses material from the article Tatyana Ali from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.