Alfonso Ribeiro

Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro was born on September 21, 1971, in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, to parents of Trinidadian descent. His paternal grandfather, Albert Ribeiro, performed as a calypsonian under the name Lord Hummingbird, and his aunt danced on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In during the 1960s and 1970s. Ribeiro began working as a child actor at age eight.

His first major recognition came in 1983, when he originated a leading role in the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid, a production that earned him a nomination for an Outer Critics Circle Award. The following year, he appeared in a Pepsi commercial alongside Michael Jackson and joined the cast of the NBC television series Silver Spoons, playing Ricky Schroder's best friend — a role he held from 1984 to 1987. His family relocated to Los Angeles after he was cast in that series. Also in 1984, Ribeiro released the single "Dance Baby" on Prism Records, one of four 12-inch singles he issued through the label. In 1985, he authored a dance instruction book titled Alfonso's Breakin' & Poppin' Book and appeared in advertising for it. After Silver Spoons concluded, Ribeiro stepped away from acting to complete high school and attend California State University, Los Angeles.

From September 1990 to May 1996, Ribeiro played Carlton Banks, the cousin of Will Smith's lead character, on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The character became widely associated with a recurring dance routine performed to Tom Jones's "It's Not Unusual," which Ribeiro developed from Eddie Murphy's "white man dance" and Courteney Cox's appearance in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" music video. The routine became known popularly as "The Carlton." He subsequently appeared on the sitcom In the House alongside LL Cool J from 1997 to 1999, and graduated from the New York Film Academy that same year. He later directed episodes of several television series, including One on One, All of Us, Meet the Browns, Are We There Yet?, Shake It Up, and K.C. Undercover.

In 2001, Ribeiro competed on a child TV stars edition of Weakest Link, reaching the final round before losing to Keshia Knight-Pulliam. The following year, he returned to the stage in an Encores! revival of the musical Golden Boy, taking the role of Joe Wellington. In September 2006, he competed on the reality series Celebrity Duets, finishing ahead of runner-up Lucy Lawless. From 2008 to 2016, he hosted the GSN game show Catch 21. In November 2013, Ribeiro entered the thirteenth series of the British reality program I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, where he was eliminated on December 5, finishing in seventh place.

In September 2014, Ribeiro joined season 19 of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson. He became the fourth celebrity in the show's history to receive a score of 9 from each judge in the first week, and on November 25, 2014, he and Carson were named the season's champions. He subsequently hosted the show's nationwide live tour. In May 2015, Ribeiro was named the successor to Tom Bergeron as host of ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos. In 2022, he joined Dancing with the Stars as co-host alongside Tyra Banks for season 31; after Banks departed following that season, Ribeiro became the show's main host, with Julianne Hough joining as co-host.

Catch 21 was revived in 2019 with Ribeiro returning as host and Witney Carson joining as co-host. His work on the program earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host in 2020, which he lost to Alex Trebek, and a second nomination the following year with the same result. Also in 2019, Ribeiro launched the syndicated weekly radio program The '90s with Alfonso Ribeiro, co-hosted with Daena "DK" Kramer and distributed through Sun Broadcast Group. In 2021, he voiced a character in Muppets Haunted Mansion.

In December 2018, Ribeiro filed a lawsuit against Epic Games over the company's use of "The Carlton" dance as purchasable content in the video game Fortnite. The U.S. Copyright Office denied his copyright claim for the dance on January 13, 2019, and Ribeiro dropped the lawsuit on March 7, 2019.

In his personal life, Ribeiro was married to Robin Stapler from January 2002 to August 2006; they have one daughter, born in October 2002. He married Angela Unkrich on October 13, 2012, and the couple have three children, born in 2013, 2015, and 2019. Outside of entertainment, Ribeiro competed in multiple editions of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach, winning the overall race in 2015 and taking celebrity class victories in 1994, 1995, and 2016. He also served as a radio spotter for CART driver Bryan Herta and performed the national anthem at CART and IndyCar Series events.