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Alfonso Ribeiro believes playing Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was the demise of his acting career.
In a recent interview with Closer Weekly, Ribeiro said his role as Carlton Banks, Will Smith's cousin on the 90s sitcom, was a "sacrifice" to his career in Hollywood.
“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 said. “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.”
However, Ribeiro said filming for Fresh Prince came with many upsides.
“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.
Ribeiro said he's enjoyed transitioning into hosting. After competing on Dancing with the Stars in 2014, Ribeiro is currently co-hosting the show with Julianne Hough.
“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,” the Fresh Prince star said.
Ribeiro also hosts ABC's America’s Funniest Home Videos and Jack Hanna’s Passport.
“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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