How Carlton Nearly Ruined 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's' Star Alfonso Ribeiro

TV’s original Carlton Banks explains why he has mixed feelings about his breakout role.

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Photo: Dia Dipasupil (Getty Images)

In Hollywood, landing a huge breakout role is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it launches you into the mainstream and presumably opens doors that were previously closed. However, on the other hand, actors can be typecast when that role is all producers see them as. This problem can be especially hard on Black actors, as they’re already starting from a casting disadvantage.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star Alfonso Ribeiro found himself caught in this complicated casting roller coaster after the popular sitcom ended. In case you’re not old enough to remember, everyone’s favorite cousin had a very successful TV and stage career long before Carlton came along. However, the actor recently confessed that once he started doing his famous dance, that’s all people wanted from him.

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“Playing Carlton on ‘Fresh Prince’ became a sacrifice,” Ribeiro told Closer Weekly. “I used to always say doing Carlton was the greatest and worst thing that ever happened to me.”

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As a professional he recognizes how lucky he was to find a pivotal, series regular role on a long-running, popular network series. Of course, nothing in Hollywood is free. In this case, that unforgettable role came with a steep price Ribeiro wasn’t expecting.

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“It was one of the greatest roles that I ever was fortunate enough to play,” he said. “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.”

He’s not wrong. For the rest of his life, he’ll be introduced as “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s Alfonso Ribeiro.” He probably has people asking him to do that dance every single day. Even though he moved on to do other series and game shows, he’ll always be Carlton to most of us.

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Despite the unexpected turn his career took after “Fresh Prince” wrapped, the former “Tap Dance Kid” has no regrets or bad feelings about the classic comedy. He’s very aware that the familial atmosphere they had was special and not the norm on most sets.

“It was about the cast and spending time with them,” he said. “Before every show, we would go into Will Smith’s dressing room, and we’d play music and dance and just have a great energy buildup to get ready for the show. Those are some great memories of just being together.”

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Nowadays, Ribeiro has moved into hosting on “Dancing With the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Videos.” But those regular gigs don’t mean he’s completely left acting in his rearview mirror.

“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 said.