On January 24, 1979, Tatyana Marisol Ali was born to Sonia, who was a nurse from Panama, and Sheriff Ali, a retired police officer from Trinidad. At the age of four she started singing and got a taste of fame when she begged her mother to take her to an audition for Sesame Street.
She went on to perform in many productions in her native city, New York, including the Broadway show “Fences”–with James Earl Jones and, later, Billy Dee Williams–and the off-Broadway show “Orfeo del Campo”. When she was seven she appeared on Star Search (1983) and won twice, receiving a four-star rating when she appeared for a second time. At age 11 Tatyana moved from New York to Los Angeles to establish her career and not long afterwords got her breakthrough role–Will Smith‘s cousin, “Ashley Banks”, from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990).
The public saw her grow on “Fresh Price” from an adorable little girl to a stunning young woman, and she sang in several episodes of the show, most notably her rendition of Aretha Franklin‘s “Respect” and an original song, “Make Up Your Mind”.
When not working she continued her education by attending Harvard and graduated with a degree in Anthropology in June 2002. To read more about her career visit here.
Lately Ali has been seen in TVOne’s Love That Girl over the last four years. Fans can see her in the romantic comedy November Rule on Valentines Day.
Last week many were surprised to see her included in Bill Duke’s Dark Girls – which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) this week. She is not what many consider “light skin” but according to Ali, that is not how Hollywood sees and tries to define her. She responded to the #‎LightSkinnedGirls‬ reaction via her Facebook profile.
