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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Characters

< The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Revision as of 22:05, 24 November 2015 by HelveticaBold (talk | contribs) (→‎Phillip Banks (James Avery))


Main Cast

Will Smith (Will Smith)

The title character. Once a street-wise youth in Philadelphia, a skirmish with a bully causes Will to be sent to live with his wealthy relatives in Bel-Air, California. The show focuses on Will living and interacting with the upper-class society and residential celebrities. Later on, there's more focus on Will's college life.

  • The Ace
  • Anti-Hero: Type II on the Sliding Scale.
  • Berserk Button: God help you if you insult his mother.
  • Big Brother Mentor: To Ashley.
  • Big Man on Campus
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Will does this at least once every three episodes, if not more.
  • Brilliant but Lazy
  • Casanova
  • Character Development: Primarily regarding his relationship with Carlton. Early on, Will gives Carlton grief about not being black enough, but eases off once he sees Carlton face discrimination from other blacks for exactly this and realizes how asinine and unfair it is.
    • Will was pretty much sought to retain his free-will "Homeboy" lifestyle when first settling in Bel-Air, but has become more accustomed to it and more open about his knowledge of numerous references.
  • The Danza: Played straight with an undertone of subversion: Real-life Will's full first name is "Willard." In-show, Will's full first name is "William." It also applies to his last name of Smith, too.
    • This was on Alfonso Ribeiro's advice, as he told Will ahead of time that people would be calling him by the character's name for the rest of his life. (An accurate prediction, as Ribeiro himself is still being called "Carlton" by fans on the street all these years later.)
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Disappeared Dad: Will's father Lou took off on the family when he was a baby and left his mother to raise him. When Lou comes back, he briefly tries to reconcile with Will but proves he's still the same selfish bastard he always was when he effectively abandons Will once again. This led to one of the series' biggest Tear Jerkers when he tearfully asked Uncle Phil:
 

Will: How come he don't want me, man?

 
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Jazz. Though less so in the later seasons.
  • High School Hustler
  • I Have No Son: Inverted with Will and his father Lou. When Lou comes back into Will's life after having run out on him 14 years ago, Lou then abandons him again for another trucking job. This is the final exchange Will and Lou share:
 

Lou: It was great seeing you, son.
Will: You too...Lou.

 

Phillip Banks (James Avery)

A successful attorney (later appointed a court judge) who doesn't try hide his reluctance to Will settling in with the Banks. Spends a good portion of the show dealing with Will's antics and help fix any mess made.

  • Big Eater: It ends up giving him a heart attack in an episode.
  • Bald Black Leader Guy: Not a leader, per se, but more than a few plots show that he's in charge of the family.
  • Bumbling Dad: Very much averted. He has his moments of stupidity, but he's portrayed as competent and knowledgeable way more often than other sitcom dads. His children are also (for the most part) far too scared of him to show the disrespect the archetype typically gets. The only one that really mouths off to him is Will, and even Will knows where the line is.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: "Zeke," by his parents.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: "Uncle Phil is a very big man, with a very short fuse. Bad combination. Very bad combination."
  • Happily Married: To Vivian.
  • Hidden Depths: He may not seem it, but he was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He's also one HELL of a pool player.
 

"Geoffrey, break out Lucille."

 

Vivian Banks (Janet Hubert-Whitten, 1990-1993; Daphne Maxwell Reid, 1993-1996)

Will's aunt whose more open and patient with Will when he moves with the Banks.

Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro)

The middle child of the Banks family who strives to get into Princeton and be a successful lawyer like his dad. More confident in the law and order in general, Carlton's at odds with Will more than frequently, though by the later half of the series he becomes The Lancer.

Hilary Banks (Karyn Parsons)

The spoiled elder child of the Banks family, Hilary's socialite bent on looked highly upon her peers in the upper class. She's also leeches off her parents' fortune and ignorant of how life outside hers really works.

Ashley Banks (Tatyana M. Ali)

The youngest child of the Banks (until Baby Nicky arrived), she very much looked up to Will. Gradually, she became bent on being less of daddy's little girl and more open and a bit rebellious, even out of Will's control. She is the only one of the Banks children to have, more or less, normal adolescence; having common teenager issues.

Geoffrey Butler (Joseph Marcell)

The Banks family butler, an older English man who outside of the witty barbs has a great relationship with the family.

Nicky Banks (Ross Bagley)

The youngest of the Banks children, born during the run of the show. But don't let that make you think he didn't have any Character Development, he grew as much as the others did.

 

Phillip: Nicky, do you remember in The Lion King, when Mufasa-
Nicky: Dad, did you sit on Harry?

 

Recurring Characters

Jazz (DJ Jazzy Jeff/Jeffrey A. Townes)

  • Casanova
  • Chekhov's Shirt: Since they constantly reused the same clip of Jazz getting thrown out of the house, they maintained continuity by having Jazz wear the same shirt in almost every episode he gets thrown out. It gets to the point where you can tell the Running Gag is about to occur if you see him wearing the shirt.
  • Drop-In Character
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Will.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Because of his being thrown out of the house is Stock Footage, he always wears the same outfit when he's about to get thrown out.
  • Running Gag: His tendency to get thrown out of the Bankses' house.
    • Inverted, subverted, and averted a couple of times, such as when he was thrown into the house, when Jazz threw Uncle Phil out the house, and when Jazz did something so horrible that Will doesn't think he's worth kicking out of the house.

Viola "Vi" Smith (Vernee Watson-Johnson)

  • The Other Darrin: A small case, but who did play Will's mom in the opening sequence?
    • It's the "mom figure" used in Smith's DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince videos (particularly "Parents Just Don't Understand").
  • Sassy Black Woman
  • Why Waste a Wedding?: Will and Lisa sure took their single parents marrying each other quite well.

Hattie "Granny" Banks (Virginia Capers)

Kellogg "Cornflake" Lieberbaum (Michael Weiner)

Tyriq "Ty" Johnson (Perry Moore)

  • The Generic Guy: He isn't the clever one, or the dumb one, or the quirky one, he is just this guy who feeds lines.

Trevor Collins/Newsworthy (Brian Stokes Mitchell)

News anchorman, whom Hilary falls for.

Helen Smith (Jennifer Lewis)

Judge Carl Robertson (Sherman Hemsley)

  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: At the judge's funeral, Will admitted his part of Robertson's death; everyone in the room applauded.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
  • Broken Pedestal
  • Cloudcuckoolander
  • Jerkass: Judge Robertson was apparently idealistic in his younger days, but as of the show's timeline he's become extremely selfish, misogynistic, deceitful, and a classic example of a corrupt politician. He was such an awful human being that at his funeral, everyone was there to celebrate his death, and they even applaud Will when they learn that he caused it.
  • You Look Familiar: Hemsley also made two separate appearances as George Jefferson, alongside Isabel Sanford as Wheezy.

Jacqueline "Jackie" Ames (Tyra Banks)

  • Aborted Arc: And a sad one because she was shaping up to be an interesting character.
  • Sassy Black Woman
  • Unrequited Love Switcheroo: It's implied that Jackie had a lingering crush on Will before he left and that he hadn't quite realized his feelings until he was gone, thus explaining why he never called because he missed her too much and didn't want to come to terms with his feelings. When she comes out to Bel-Air, Will starts to fall for her again, though the situation suffers from Aborted Arc and is never resolved.

Lisa Wilkes (Nia Long)

  • You Look Familiar: Long previously played another girlfriend of Will's three seasons earlier.
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