Karyn Parsons is totally different from her role as the materialistic and sometimes not-so-swift “Hilary Banks” character that she played on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She recently revealed that for a while after she was starring on the show, that she refused to quit the REAL-LIFE job that she had before landing the role.

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The Job She REFUSED To Quit & How Her Co-Stars Clowned Her

Karyn Parsons was a restaurant hostess at the exact same time she was “Hilary Banks!” Could you imagine going to the restaurant where she was working at the height of her career, and having “Hilary” escort you to your table?!! Crazy right? She’s smart though, because here’s what she explained about why she did that:

Before she got her break on that hit ’90s sitcom, Parsons was living in Hollywood — working as a restaurant hostess, taking acting classes and going on lots of auditions. When she first got the audition for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, she wasn’t sold on the show’s concept. “I remember my first reactions being, ‘Oh, God, it’s a sitcom with a rapper? Like, what’s that?’ ” she recalls.

She says the Hilary character was originally written as a polished, cool model. “My first reaction to it was, ‘Oh, well, this is ridiculous, I’m not gonna get this, I’m not a model type. This is silly,’ ” Parsons says. Parsons says she decided to make the character her own. “I did what I could do, which was, I kind of turned in her into a little bit of a real brat,” she says. “It was fun to play that girl. It was fun to just be so self-absorbed that you just say ridiculous things.”

Parsons got the part, but she still went back to her hostessing job. “I didn’t know what was gonna happen with that show,” she says.

She remembers Will Smith and others from the show coming by the restaurant while she was working and teasing her outside the window. -via NPR

Embed from Getty Images

As you can see, Karyn Parsons is obviously way smarter than her character, “Hilary Banks.” She made sure not to throw all of her eggs in one basket. Some people just go all in and have no plan B, while others choose to play it safe. Karyn chose the latter.

Nowadays she spends time raising her kids with her husband, director Alexandre Rockwell, whom she married in 2003. Together they have a daughter, Lana (born in 2003), and a son, Nico (born in 2007).

Ever since her “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” era, Karyn has focused on her own projects, including Sweet Blackberry, in which she’s producing a line of animated films about unsung black heroes. It was the first in the series, and it tells the story of Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom.

Source: NPR

The post “Hilary” Tells Why She Refused To Quit Her Normal 9-5 Job While Starring On “Fresh Prince” appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We all remember “Hillary Banks” right? She was the spoiled rich kid on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air who cared more about her toenail polish color than her actually mental capacity. Thankfully actress, Karyn Parsons, is absolutely nothing like her ’90s character, Hillary, a fact that we’re pretty sure her husband, Alexandre Rockwell, and their two kids appreciate as well.

Speaking of their kids, they are doing some impressive things in the entertainment world. But first let us feel you in on their parents…

After Fresh Prince, Karyn pretty much shunned the spotlight and fame. It was like trying spot a needle in a haystack if you’d planned on spotting her on anyone’s red carpet. She began focusing on her family after marrying Rockwell in 2003 and giving birth to daughter, Lana, and son, Nico. She also launched her Sweet Blackberry Foundation, which her website states that their “mission at Sweet Blackberry is to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.”

Her full-time job is being a mother to her kids though. Her husband, Alexandre Rockwell, is a film director and combined with Karyn’s acting expertise, it’s only natural that their babies are now aspiring to follow in their footsteps.

Meet Their Kids

 

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A post shared by Karyn Parsons (@karynparsons)

Above is a throwback photo of Lana, with actor Geoffrey Holder’s (of Boomerang and Annie films) widow, when she was 14 years old (see her new pics below). Lana’s now an 18-year-old actress, who –along with her brother, Nico– starred in the 2013 film their Dad directed and also co-starred in, titled Little Feet. Additionally, Lana’s starred in films, Pete Small Is Dead in 2010; and in That is Circling All Round the Sun in 2016.

Back then, Karyn’s and Alexandre’s now-14-year-old son, Nico, was able to hold his own weight next to his big sister in Little Feet as well. These days, he’s grown since then, as you can see in Karyn’s post below…

 

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A post shared by Karyn Parsons (@karynparsons)

By February 2020, Lana, her Dad, and her cast-mates were earning a Berlin Festival Award for their work in the film, “Sweet Thing.”

Karyn shared several photos of their happiness at that time, along with the caption, “What an amazing night! Thank you @berlinale_generation !!! The @sweetthing.film screening was all we could’ve hoped for! A fantastic audience for a beautiful film! So proud of you, hubby #AlexandreRockwell! Completely floored by the talent of my babies @kidnamednico and @lanalanabobana, of @jabariwatkins9, @unofficialmljosepher / @ml_josepher, and of course, the always wonderful,#willpatton!#independentspirit #berlin🇩🇪.”

Karyn Parsons still apparently prefers a more ‘normal’ lifestyle outside of the Hollywood scene that can sometimes be just as superficial and shallow as her character, “Hillary Banks.” However, Karyn has stepped out a few times in recent years, and her fans were happy to see her. In fact, in November 2021 she –along with former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” cast-mate, Janet Hubert — celebrated with their ex-co-star, Will Smith, for his “Will The Book” memoir launch…

K. Parsons: What a night! Celebrating @willsmith and the launch of #willthebook ! Moderated by @officialspikelee , Will made me cry w/some of the intimate and revealing shares from the book😭. But then he rapped! … and @djjazzyjeff showed!
So much fun w/my girl, @glowmaven ! Got to play with my tv mom, #JanetHubert!… fun all around! Thx, Will! 😘

Lastly, can y’all believe that Karyn Parsons is now 55 years old? Looking good Karyn, keep up the great work ma!’

The post Daughter Of “Fresh Prince’s” Karyn Parsons And Husband Is Following In Mom’s Footsteps appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Karyn Parsons is totally different from her role as the materialistic and sometimes not-so-swift “Hilary Banks” character that she played on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She recently revealed that for a while after she was starring on the show, that she refused to quit the REAL-LIFE job that she had before landing the role.

Embed from Getty Images

The Job She REFUSED To Quit & How Her Co-Stars Clowned Her

Karyn Parsons was a restaurant hostess at the exact same time she was “Hilary Banks!” Could you imagine going to the restaurant where she was working at the height of her career, and having “Hilary” escort you to your table?!! Crazy right? She’s smart though, because here’s what she explained about why she did that:

Before she got her break on that hit ’90s sitcom, Parsons was living in Hollywood — working as a restaurant hostess, taking acting classes and going on lots of auditions. When she first got the audition for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, she wasn’t sold on the show’s concept. “I remember my first reactions being, ‘Oh, God, it’s a sitcom with a rapper? Like, what’s that?’ ” she recalls.

She says the Hilary character was originally written as a polished, cool model. “My first reaction to it was, ‘Oh, well, this is ridiculous, I’m not gonna get this, I’m not a model type. This is silly,’ ” Parsons says. Parsons says she decided to make the character her own. “I did what I could do, which was, I kind of turned in her into a little bit of a real brat,” she says. “It was fun to play that girl. It was fun to just be so self-absorbed that you just say ridiculous things.”

Parsons got the part, but she still went back to her hostessing job. “I didn’t know what was gonna happen with that show,” she says.

She remembers Will Smith and others from the show coming by the restaurant while she was working and teasing her outside the window. -via NPR

Embed from Getty Images

As you can see, Karyn Parsons is obviously way smarter than her character, “Hilary Banks.” She made sure not to throw all of her eggs in one basket. Some people just go all in and have no plan B, while others choose to play it safe. Karyn chose the latter.

Nowadays she spends time raising her kids with her husband, director Alexandre Rockwell, whom she married in 2003. Together they have a daughter, Lana (born March 2003), and a son, Nico (born May 2007).

Karyn is also focused on her great project called Sweet Blackberry, in which she’s producing a line of animated films about unsung black heroes. The first in the series is about Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom.

Source: NPR

The post “Hilary” Refused To Quit Normal Real-Life Job While Starring On “Fresh Prince,” Fans Stunned appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Embed from Getty Images

The Job She REFUSED To Quit

Karyn Parsons was a restaurant hostess at the exact same time she was “Hilary Banks!” Could you imagine going to the restaurant where she was working at the height of her career, and having “Hilary” escort you to your table?!! Crazy right? She’s smart though, because here’s what she explained about why she did that:

Before she got her break on that hit ’90s sitcom, Parsons was living in Hollywood — working as a restaurant hostess, taking acting classes and going on lots of auditions. When she first got the audition for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, she wasn’t sold on the show’s concept. “I remember my first reactions being, ‘Oh, God, it’s a sitcom with a rapper? Like, what’s that?’ ” she recalls.

She says the Hilary character was originally written as a polished, cool model. “My first reaction to it was, ‘Oh, well, this is ridiculous, I’m not gonna get this, I’m not a model type. This is silly,’ ” Parsons says. Parsons says she decided to make the character her own. “I did what I could do, which was, I kind of turned in her into a little bit of a real brat,” she says. “It was fun to play that girl. It was fun to just be so self-absorbed that you just say ridiculous things.”

Parsons got the part, but she still went back to her hostessing job. “I didn’t know what was gonna happen with that show,” she says.

She remembers Will Smith and others from the show coming by the restaurant while she was working and teasing her outside the window. -via NPR

Embed from Getty Images

As you can see, Karyn Parsons is obviously way smarter than her character, “Hilary Banks.” She made sure not to throw all of her eggs in one basket. Some people just go all in and have no plan B, while others choose to play it safe. Karyn chose the latter.

Nowadays she spends time raising her kids with her husband, director Alexandre Rockwell, whom she married in 2003. Together they have a daughter, Lana (born March 2003), and a son, Nico (born May 2007).

Karyn is also focused on her great project called Sweet Blackberry, in which she’s producing a line of animated films about unsung black heroes. The first in the series is about Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom.

Source: NPR

The post Fans Stunned That “Hilary” Refused To Quit Normal Real-Life Job While On “Fresh Prince” appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Princess

If you guessed Karyn Parsons, you guessed right. Parsons is known for her iconic role as Hillary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It may come as a surprise but Karyn didn’t aspire to be an actress when she was a little girl as she had dreams of being a professional dancer. Tragically, her initial dreams eventually fell apart after she suffered a torn knee ligament while she was still in grade school. According to the Gazette Review, Parsons developed a new dream after watching a school production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession. While Karyn wasn’t on the stage, she had a desire to be and it didn’t take long for her to develop a passion for acting. Parsons’ passion was so strong for acting that she skipped college and went straight to show business.

After numerous auditions and small roles, Parsons received her big break when she was cast as Hilary Banks, one of the lead characters, in the NBC sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Despite the fact that the show has been off the air for nearly 2 decades, Parsons is still known to us as Hillary Banks. Parsons may have played the role of a ditzy air-head that loved to shop, however, she was quite the opposite in real life. After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Parsons took on a new career that involved teaching children African-American history.

Meet Karyn Parson’s Multicultural Fam’

In 2003, Parsons married director Alexandre Rockwell and the couple had 2 children:  daughter Lana and son Nico. Upon becoming a parent, Parsons became to reflect on the responsibilities that come with parenting. She began to reflect on the importance of teaching her children about their culture. As a child, her mother told her Black history stories and gave her the idea of putting those stories in a children’s book. In 2004 Karyn started the production company Sweet Blackberry, and has written and produced animated films that teach children about Black History.

Because Karyn is married to a skilled film maker, it’s not a surprise that her children have decided to pursue acting careers. Last month, we shared how both of Parsons’ children starred in the 2013 movie,  Little Feet, that their dad co-starred in and directed as well. What’s even more exciting is that her 14 year-old daughter seems to have an interest in dance as well. Lana (pictured below with the wife of the late Boomerang/Annie actor, Geoffrey Holder) celebrated black ballerinas at the Dance Theater of Harlem. Wouldn’t that be amazing if Lana lived her mother’s dream and became a dancer?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BD_5VnNA3UK/?taken-by=karynparsons&hl=en

While dance may not be Lana’s passion, like her mother, she appears to be a talented actress that is serious about her craft. Lana starred in the film, That is Circling All Round the Sun, in 2016. She and her dad talked about their film together in the video below…

Even though Karyn seems to prefer the family life than living life on the red carpet, she still keeps in touch with her cast mates. The cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunited in March of 2017 to support her organization, Sweet Berry. According to TMZ, Karyn Parsons along with Tatiana Ali, Alfonso Ribeiro, Will, Daphne Maxwell Reid and Joseph Marcell all came together at Nobu in Malibu. Karyn says her former cast mates ate dinner with a family from England that won a charity auction.

By the way, in case y’all didn’t know, Parsons is 50 and fabulous! Get it Karyn!

The post This Cutie Became A Household Name In The 90’s & Now Her Kids Follow In Her Footsteps appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We all remember Hillary Banks” right? She was the spoiled rich kid on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air who cared more about her toenail polish color than her actually mental capacity. Thankfully actress, Karyn Parsons, is absolutely nothing like her 90’s character, Hillary, a fact that we’re pretty sure her husband, Alexandre Rockwell, and their two kids appreciate as well.

Speaking of their kids, they are doing some impressive things in the entertainment world. But first let us feel you in on their parents…

After Fresh Prince, Karyn pretty much shunned the spotlight and fame. It was like trying spot a needle in a haystack if you’d planned on spotting her on anyone’s red carpet. She began focusing on her family after marrying Rockwell in 2003 and giving birth to daughter, Lana, and son, Nico. She also launched her Sweet Blackberry Foundation, which her website states that their “mission at Sweet Blackberry is to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.”

Her full time job is being a mother to her kids though. Her husband, Alexandre Rockwell, is a film director and combined with Karyn’s acting expertise, it’s only natural that their babies are now aspiring to follow in their footsteps.

Meet Their Kids

https://www.instagram.com/p/BD_5VnNA3UK/

Lana (pictured above with the wife of the late Boomerang/Annie actor, Geoffrey Holder) is as cute as a button and at almost 14 years old (she turns 14 in June 2017), she’s also a very poised and intelligent young lady. She’s an actress, who- along with her brother, Nico- starred in the 2013 film their dad directed and also co-starred in, titled Little Feet. Lana’s also starred in the films, Pete Small Is Dead in 2010 and most recently in That is Circling All Round the Sun in 2016. She and her dad talked about their film together in the video below…

Nico also was able to hold his own weight next to his big sister, Lana, in Little Feet as well.

Karyn Parsons still apparently prefers a more ‘normal’ lifestyle outside of the Hollywood scene that can sometimes be just as superficial and shallow as her character, “Hillary Banks.” However, Karyn has stepped out a few times recently and her fans were happy to see her. In fact, she was spotted a few months ago, reuniting with her Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fam’…

Lastly, can y’all believe that Karyn Parsons is now 51 years old? Looking good Karyn, keep up the great work ma!’

The post “Hillary” & Husband’s Beautiful Daughter Is Following In Her Mom’s Footsteps appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

ILOSM fam’ this story of the former kid actress who played the young Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got To Do With It” is a perfect example of two old school sayings: (1) What’s done in the dark, will always come to the light; and (2) Every dark cloud has a silver lining.

Actress, Rae’Ven Kelly, was just a little girl when the world was watching her work her magic on the big screen, but she was going through hell behind closed doors. Some of y’all may recall our prior story where we revealed that Rae’Ven slapped her parents, Phyllis Larrymore-Kelly and Kevin Kelly, with a major lawsuit in 2016 for defamation- unimaginable lies she said they spread about her out of spite; emotional abuse; and for allegedly stealing almost one million dollars from her. It left her in a tough position in life (read more about that here).

We also reported that in 2016, Rae’Ven endured an ugly incident of police brutality and it was one the most demeaning things that NO woman should ever have to go through at the hands of police…

Today though, at 31 years old, she’s bouncing back in a MAJOR way, with a little help from Whoopi Goldberg, a lot of self-determination, and a whole lotta resilience- much like the icon Tina, who she played 24 years ago (in 1993).

SEE WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE LAWSUIT & WHAT SHE & WHOOPI ARE DOING>>>

The post The Now GROWN Actress Endured The WORST But See What Whoopi Just Helped Her Do appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

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