Early life

Ribeiro was born in New York City in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, to parents Michael and Joy Ribeiro (née De Leon) from Trinidad and Tobago. His mother was the daughter of Trinidadian Calypsonian the Roaring Lion, Rafael de Leon.

Career

Ribeiro began his career at the age of eight. He first gained recognition in 1983, when he played a leading role in the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid. He received positive reviews for his performance, and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award.

Ribeiro appeared as a dancer in a Pepsi commercial that featured Michael Jackson in 1984. A rumor spread that Ribeiro had died from snapping his neck while dancing for the commercial. The same year, Ribeiro was cast as Rick Schroder's best friend on the TV series Silver Spoons. In 1985, Alfonso appeared as himself in a commercial on MTV advertising a dance instruction book he authored called Alfonso's Breakin' & Poppin' Book. In 1986, he released a 12" rap record called "Timebomb" on Prism Records.

Ribeiro's breakout role was as Carlton Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996. He played the cousin to Will Smith's lead character. The Carlton character was known for frequently dancing to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", a dance move that gained fame as "The Carlton Dance".

After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Ribeiro competed as one of the celebrity singers on the reality TV show Celebrity Duets in 2006, winning over the runner-up Lucy Lawless.

In 2008, Ribeiro began hosting the game show Catch 21 on GSN. He also directed some episodes of Meet the Browns and a majority of the season two episodes of Are We There Yet? television series. In 2013, Ribeiro began hosting his second game show Spell-Mageddon on ABC Family.

On May 24, 2013, Ribeiro made a cameo appearance on The Graham Norton Show to perform "The Carlton Dance", with show guests Will and Jaden Smith. In November of that year, Ribeiro took part as a contestant in the thirteenth series of the British reality show, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. He was eliminated from the show on December 5, finishing in seventh place.

On September 4, 2014, Ribeiro was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on season 19 of Dancing with the Stars. He partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson. He became the fourth celebrity dancer in the show's history, to receive a 9 from each judge in week one. On November 25, Ribeiro and Carson won the competition. In September 2015, he returned as a guest judge in week three of season 21, and he subbed for Tom Bergeron as host the following week.

On May 19, 2015, Ribeiro was named as Tom Bergeron's successor as host of America's Funniest Home Videos. In July 8, 2015, Ribeiro made a cameo appearance in the music video for "All Night" by pop rock band, R5.

Personal life

Ribeiro was married to Robin Stapler in 2002. He and Stapler divorced in 2006, filing papers in Los Angeles County Superior Court that cited irreconcilable differences. The couple share joint custody of their daughter Sienna.

Ribeiro became engaged to writer Angela Unkrich in July 2012.They married on October 13, and reside in Los Angeles. In 2013, his wife gave birth to their first son, Alfonso Jr., known as AJ. In 2015, their second son Anders was born.

Filmography

Acting

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	OYE Willie		TV series
1984-87	Silver Spoons	Alfonso Spears	Regular in seasons 3-5; 72 episodes
1986	John Grin's Christmas	Rocky	TV movie
1986	Magnum, P.I.	Kenneth	Episodes: "L.A." (2 hours), "Missing Melody"
1987	Mighty Pawns	Frank	TV movie
1994	Bill Nye, the Science Guy	Himself	Episode: "Food Web"
1990	A Different World	Zach Duncan	Episode: "Hillmann Isn't Through With You Yet"
1990-96	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Carlton Banks	148 episodes
1993	Ticks	Darrel "Panic" Lumnley
1994	Soul Train	Host	Guest-hosted one episode
1994-98	Spider-Man	Randy Robertson / Teenage Robbie Robertson	Voice role
1996-99	In the House	Dr. Maxwell Stanton	51 episodes
1996	Kidz in the Wood		TV movie
1997	Extreme Ghostbusters	Roland Jackson	Voice role
2000	Your Big Break	Host	Game show
2001	Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase	Moon Goon #1	Voice role
2005	Love Wrecked	Bert Hernandez
2006	Celebrity Duets	Himself/contestant	Winner
2008-09	GSN Live	Host
2008-11	Catch 21	Host	Game show
2011	Things We Do for Love	Darren	4 episodes; also director
2012	Big Time Rush	Captain McAllister	Episode: "Bel Air Rush"
2013	Shake It Up	Mr. Zigfeld	Episode: "My Fair Librarian it Up"
2013	Spell-Mageddon	Host	8 episodes
2013	The Graham Norton Show	Himself	UK comedy-chat show; cameo appearance in season 13, episode 8
2013	I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!	Himself/contestant	UK reality-competition show
2014	Dancing with the Stars	Himself/contestant	U.S. version; winner
2015-	Unwrapped 2.0	Host/narrator	Cooking Channel series
2015-	America's Funniest Home Videos	Host/narrator	ABC series
2016	Whose Line is it Anyway?	Himself	Season 12 Episode 1

Directing

Television

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
1995	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Episode: "I, Ooh, Baby, Baby"
2006-07	All of Us	26 episodes
2009-10	Meet the Browns	8 episodes
2011-12	Are We There Yet?	19 episodes
2014	Mighty Med	1 episode
2015	Young & Hungry	Episode: "Young & Part Two" (season 2)

Dancing with the Stars performances

Ribeiro was partnered with Witney Carson for season 19. On November 25, 2014, Ribeiro and Carson were declared the season's champions.

Week #	Dance / Song	Judges' score				Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Hough	Tonioli
1	Jive / "3-6-9"	9	9	9	9	Safe
2	Samba / "Gettin' Jiggy wit It"	8	8	8	8	Safe
3	Quickstep / "Hey Goldmember"	8	81	8	8	Safe
4	Jazz / "It's Not Unusual"	10	102	10	10	Safe
53	Flamenco / "Angelica"	8	94	9	8	No elimination
6	Salsa / "Booty"	10	105	9	10	Safe
7	Rumba / "Ghost" Team freestyle / "Time Warp"	9 8	9 8	9 8	9 8	Safe
8	Cha-cha-cha / "Trust" Jive Dance-Off / "Rip It Up"	10 Awarded	9 3	9 Extra	10 Points	Safe
9	Foxtrot / "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" Trio Paso Doble / "Turn Down for What"	9 10	9 10	9 10	10 10	Safe
10	Argentine Tango / "Love Runs Out" Contemporary / "Love Runs Out" (acoustic version)	9 10	9 9	9 10	9 10	Safe
11	Jive / "3-6-9" Freestyle / "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" Cha-cha-cha & Argentine Tango Fusion / "Shut Up and Dance"	10 10 10	10 10 10	10 10 10	10 10 10	Winner

1 Score given by guest judge Kevin Hart in place of Goodman.

2The American public scored the dance in place of Goodman with the averaged score being counted alongside the three other judges.

3This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Ribeiro performed with Cheryl Burke instead of Carson.

4Score given by guest judge Jessie J in place of Goodman.

5Score given by guest judge Pitbull in place of Goodman.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]