Early life

Ali was born in North Bellmore, New York, the eldest daughter (she has two younger sisters) of Sonia, a nurse, and Sheriff Ali, a police detective. Her mother is Afro-Panamanian and her father is Indo-Trinidadian.

Career

By the age of six, she had begun her acting career, as a regular child performer on Sesame Street starting in 1985, even appearing with Herbie Hancock in a musical number. She also appeared twice on Star Search. She made her breakthrough when she was cast as Ashley Banks for the television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990. She sang on various episodes of the show, including a heavily altered version of Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and the original song, "Make Up Your Mind" produced by Robert Jerald of N'Spyre Music Productions. Will Smith asked her if she seriously considered pursuing a musical career. Despite her singing ability, she concentrated on her acting career on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the next few years. In the final season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1995-96), Ali began preparing herself for her musical debut. The result was the album Kiss The Sky, which was certified gold in early 1999. The album spawned the hit song "Daydreamin'", released July 21, 1998, produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart.

The album spawned two further UK hits, "Boy You Knock Me Out", featuring Will Smith, which peaked at No. 3 and is her biggest hit to date; and "Everytime", which was her third top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 20. She made an appearance in Smith's album Willennium for the track "Who Am I" with MC Lyte. Along with her musical career, Ali kept acting in many films. She had the chance to work with recognized film directors such as Takeshi Kitano (Brother), Rodrigo Garcia (Mother and Child), among others. In 2005, she completed work on the film Glory Road and starred in the music video for Nick Cannon and Anthony Hamilton's "Can I Live?" as Cannon's mother. In early 2008, she performed on the song "Yes We Can", a will.i.am project supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign. She also appeared in the subsequent music video which gained coverage on the "What the Buzz" segment of ABC's World News Now.

She also performed the title song, "Sunny Valentine" along with Terrence Quaites for the indie film, Rockin' Meera directed by Param Gill in 2005. In 2009 and 2010 she produced and starred in the BET web show, Buppies. She is currently on recurring status on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Roxanne.

Ali can be seen in the show, Love That Girl! on TV One. She stars as Tyana (which comes from the last five letters of her name). When asked if the character bears any similarities to her, Ali said in a CaribPress interview, "She's a bit neurotic and I hope I am not quite like that."

"One thing that I do love about her is that she is really multidimensional," she went on to say in the same interview. "I think it's nice to have a female character that is portrayed in (a) really holistic way."

Ali also starred in Nora's Hair Salon and Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above. In 2011, Ali received the Living Legacy Award from the Caribbean Heritage Organization in Los Angeles. In 2012, Ali appeared as a guest on The Eric Andre Show. Ali's most recent role, as of January 15, 2013, is starring as Maya, along with Craig Wayans and Damien Dante Wayans, in the BET comedy, Second Generation Wayans.

In January 2014, Ali released a new EP entitled Hello, with her first single being "Wait For It", which she also performed on The Arsenio Hall Show on February 4, 2014.

Personal life

Ali attended Harvard University, where she received a bachelor's degree in African-American studies and government in 2002. She traveled the United States as a spokesperson for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and headed voter registration drives at college campuses. In 2012, she continued showing her support.

Ali was in a relationship with actor Jonathan Brandis for six years. On March 31, 2016, Ali revealed that she is currently engaged to Vaughn Rasberry, assistant professor of English at Stanford University and they are expecting their first child.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Eddie Murphy Raw	Eddie's Sister	Sketch Segment
1988	Crocodile Dundee II	Park Girl
1988	Wow, You're a Cartoonist!	Child Cartoonist	Short film; direct-to-video release
1997	Fakin' da Funk	Karyn
1997	Kiss the Girls	Janell Cross
1998	The Clown at Midnight	Monica
1999	Jawbreaker	Brenda
2000	Brother	Latifa
2001	The Brothers	Cherie Smith
2003	National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze	Claire
2004	Nora's Hair Salon	Lilleana
2005	Back in the Day	Alicia Packer
2005	Domino One	Laeticia Richards
2006	Glory Road	Tina Malichi
2006	A Warm Place	Clair Andrews	Short film
2007	The List	Cynthia
2008	Down & Out		Short film
2008	Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above	Lilleana
2008	Hotel California	Jessie
2009	Mother and Child	Maria
2010	Pete Smalls Is Dead	Cocktail Waitress
2012	Privileged	Talia
2012	Dysfunctional Friends	Alex
2012	Home Again	Marva Johnson
2013	24 Hour Love	Simply
2013	The Last Letter	Jillian
2014	Locker 13	Lucy
2014	Comeback Dad	Nima
2015	November Rule	Leah

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985/90	Sesame Street	Tatyana	4 episodes
1989	Wally and the Valentines	Jamaica Valentine	Special
1989	A Man Called Hawk	Michelle	Episode: "Life After Death"
1989	The Cosby Show	Girl	Episode: "Shall We Dance?"
1990-96	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Ashley Banks	148 episodes
1992	Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?	Herself	Episode: "The Nefarious Nobel Napper"
1993	Getting By	Nicole Alexander	Episode: "Turnabout Dance"
1994	Are You Afraid of the Dark?	Laura Turner/Connie Turner	Episode: "The Tale of the Quicksilver"
1994	TV's Funniest Families	Herself as a Host	Special
1995	In the House	Ashley Banks	Episode: "Dog Catchers"
1996	Living Single	Stephanie James	Episode: "Whatever Happened to Baby Sister?"
1996	Kidz in the Wood	Rita
1996	Fall Into Darkness	Sharon McKay
1997	413 Hope St.	Kai	Episode: "Heartbeat"
2002	Fastlane	Shelly	Episode: "Girls Own Juice"
2003	Half & Half	Olivia	Episode: "The Big Condom-nation Episode"
2007	On the Lot	Girl	Episode: "11 Cut to 10 & 10 Directors Compete"; segment: "First Sight"
2007-13	The Young and the Restless	Roxanne	Recurring role; 53 episodes
2010-12	Love That Girl!	Tyana Jones	Lead role
2012	The Eric Andre Show	Herself	Episode: "Tatyana Ali"
2013	Second Generation Wayans	Maya
2013	Dear Secret Santa	Jennifer	Movie
2014	The Divorce		Movie
2015	Fatal Flip	Roslyn	Movie

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart
1998	Kiss the Sky	#47 US, #41 UK
2014	Hello (EP)	—

Singles

Year	Song							Album
1998	"Daydreamin'"	6	5	6	3	—	—	Kiss the Sky
	"Boy You Knock Me Out"	—	68	3	12	32	77
1999	"Everytime"	118	73	20	—	—	—

Awards and nominations

Caribbean Heritage Organization

• 2011: Recipient, Living Legacy Award

NAACP Image Awards

• 1996: Won, Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 1997: Nominated, Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 2010: Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama - The Young and the Restless
• 2011: Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Love That Girl!
• 2011: Won, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama - The Young and the Restless
• 2012: Won, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama - The Young and the Restless
• 2012: Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Love That Girl!
• 2013: Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series - Love That Girl!

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

• 1996: Nominated, Favorite Television Actress - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Young Artist Awards

• 1991: Won, Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 1992: Nominated, Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 1993: Nominated, Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 1994: Nominated, Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• 1995: Nominated, Outstanding Young Comedienne in a Television Series - Name Your Adventure

Charities

Tatyana Ali supports the following charitable causes: Children, Diabetes, Foster Care, Cancer, AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]