Tatyana Ali

In late 1990s, Tatyana Ali dated actor Jonathan Brandis for a brief period.

In March 2016, she revealed that she was engaged to Vaughn Rasberry, assistant professor of English at Stanford University, and they were expecting their first child. The couple married on July 17, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.Their son, Edward Aszard Rasberry was born on September 16, 2016.

Tatyana Ali was born on January 24, 1979 in North Bellmore, New York. She is the eldest daughter of Sheriff, a retired police officer, and Sonia Ali, a nurse. While her mother is from Panama, and her father is an East Indian Muslim from Trinidad. Her two younger sisters are Anastacia and Kimberly.

She started singing when she was only four, and soon got a taste of fame. At the age of six, she begged her mother to take her to an audition for the TV series ‘Sesame Street.’

In 1985, when she was six, Tatyana Ali started her acting career as a child performer in ‘Sesame Street’, an American educational children's television series that combined live action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. She also appeared in a musical number with Herbie Hancock, an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer and actor.

At the beginning of her career, she also appeared twice on ‘Star Search’, an American television show produced by T.P.E./Rysher Entertainment.

In 1990, she got her breakthrough role as Ashley Banks in ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’, an American sitcom, originally aired on NBC. The series ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996, and aired 148 episodes. The show starred Will Smith.

Tatyana displayed her musical ability by singing on various episodes of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’. She even sang a heavily modified version of Aretha Franklin's ‘Respect’, and the original song ‘Make Up Your Mind’ produced by Robert Jerald of N'Spyre Music Productions. In fact, Will Smith suggested her to seriously consider pursuing a musical career as well.

In the final season of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ in 1996, she started preparing herself for her musical debut, and released her first studio album ‘Kiss the Sky’, in August 1998. The album included the Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit ‘Daydreamin', the hit single ‘Boy You Knock Me Out’, and the ballad ‘Everytime’.

As an actress, Tatyana Ali is best known for her appearance as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’ The super-hit show was nominated for several awards, winning quite a few of them.

Her debut album ‘Kiss the Sky’ (1998) peaked at number 106 on the Billboard 200 and number 47 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was certified Gold in 1999.

The song ‘Boy You Knock Me Out’, featuring Will Smith, which peaked at No. 3 is her biggest hit to date. The single ‘Everytime’, which was her third top 20 hit in the UK, peaked at No. 20.