Alfonso Ribeiro who is best known for his role in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” has recently admitted to feeling conflicted about the hit character that he played in the show.
In a recent interview with Closer Weekly, Ribeiro revealed that playing the iconic role of Carlton Banks was a “sacrifice” for his acting career. “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 explained to the outlet. He continued, “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.”
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Overall, Ribeiro doesn’t have any resentment towards the series and instead he reminisced about some of his favorite memories from filming. “It was about the cast and spending time with them. 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,” he recalled.
Despite not having taken on any major acting roles recently, Ribeiro expressed to Closer Weekly, “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 added.
At 52 years old, Ribeiro is currently co-hosting “Dancing with the Stars” with Julianne Hough, following his victory in season 19 in 2014. Additionally, he hosts “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Jack Hanna’s Passport,” both airing on ABC.
“My happiest moments, career-wise, are winning ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and now becoming host of ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ And after winning ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I got the opportunity to do the show that I always wanted to do – ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’” Ribeiro said.
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Ribeiro started his career at the age of 8-years-old which eventually landed him in a Pepsi commercial with Michael Jackson. While speaking on that great accomplishment Ribeiro said, “It was amazing. I was a huge fan and ended up becoming friends with him. It was quite special. The funny story was when we were doing rehearsals, I couldn’t understand why it was taking Michael so long to learn such simple choreography. Then, I realized, ‘Oh, he’s not learning it. He’s perfecting it.’ Every movement, every fingertip, had to be exactly what he wanted it to be. I learned that it’s not about how quickly you do something, it’s about getting it right in every detail.”
