Alfonso Ribeiro
Alfonso Ribeiro
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Alfonso Ribeiro

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Alfonso Ribeiro

Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. In a career spanning over four decades, he is best known for his role as Carlton Banks on the NBC television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), as well as his performances on Silver Spoons (1984–1987) and In the House (1996–1999).

Ribeiro started his career as a child actor and gained recognition for his titular performance in the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid. He later competed in the thirteenth season of the British survival show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Ribeiro currently hosts ABC's video clip series America's Funniest Home Videos and co-hosts its reality competition series Dancing with the Stars with Julianne Hough. He won the latter program's nineteenth season alongside professional dancer Witney Carson, with whom he presented the GSN game show Catch 21.

Ribeiro was born in New York City in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx to parents of Trinidadian descent. His paternal grandfather was Albert Ribeiro, a calypsonian known professionally as Lord Hummingbird. His aunt had been a dancer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ribeiro began his career at age 8. 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 died from snapping his neck while dancing in the commercial. The same year, Ribeiro was cast as Ricky Schroder's best friend on the TV series Silver Spoons, after which he and his family moved to Los Angeles.

In 1985, Ribeiro authored a dance instruction book, Alfonso's Breakin' & Poppin' Book, and appeared in a commercial advertising it. He also released four 12-inch singles on Prism Records, including the 1984 track "Dance Baby". After Silver Spoons ended, Ribeiro took a hiatus from acting to finish high school and attend California State University, Los Angeles.

Ribeiro's most prominent role was as Carlton Banks, the cousin of Will Smith's lead character, on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from September 1990 to May 1996. Carlton was known for frequently dancing to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", a dance routine that gained fame as "The Carlton". Ribeiro based "The Carlton" on Eddie Murphy's "white man dance" and Courteney Cox's dance from Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" music video.

Ribeiro starred on the sitcom In the House with LL Cool J from 1997 to 1999. He graduated from the New York Film Academy in 1999 and would go on to direct episodes of One on One, All of Us, Meet the Browns, Are We There Yet?, Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover.

Ribeiro appeared as a contestant on a special child TV stars episode of Weakest Link in 2001. He made it into the final round but lost to Keshia Knight-Pulliam.

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