My Tribute to Tatyana Ali!
Tatyana Marisol Ali, 21, practically grew up on the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" as Ashley Banks, Will's youngest cousin. During the first season, she and Will did not get along, "That first year Tatyana and I clashed because I felt like her big brother, and she wasn't having any of it. I used to talk down to her," Will recalls.
Tatyana also remember the first season with Will: "I couldn't believe what a bad actor he was."
"Will always got his hair cut every Friday morning before the show, and he was really particular about getting it shaped the right way," she recalls.
"I liked his rap music," she admitted, "because he was the only rapper my mother let me listen to, but at first we weren't pals."
But, as the second season went into production, Will knew his limits and he and Tatyana became very good friends, and remain so to this day.
"After we finally got close," she remembers, "Will became like a big brother to me - advising, helping, encouraging, protecting me."
Tatyana says she was "completely blown away with Will's performance in Six Degrees of Separation!"
During the fourth season was when Tatyana was at the age where she started to look at men differently. She remembers coming to the set one day and Will was wearing an especially sexy pair of leather pants. "I turned to someone and said, 'Gosh, Will has a really cute butt,'" she said.
During the fifth season, there was an episode that required Tatyana to do some singing. After Will heard her, he asked if she would like to make a record that he would produce. She jumped at the chance! Now, Will is her executive producer , co-manager (along with her mother), mentor and very best friend.
Tatyana remembers some of the good times she had on the set of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: "There was this game we played, where you're eating something - like a sandwich or something.And you know when you're really enjoying your meal, when you get to the very last bite and you're really into your food? Well, somebody would always come up behind you and grab it out of your hand!"
Will has said that Tatyana is the most multi-talented person he's ever known.
In her album she gives props to Will, "To WILL, for your fascinating belief and sometimes unsettling confidence in me, but most of all, thank you for your persistence."
Will also asked Tatyana to participate on the "Wild, Wild West" soundtrack and his new album, "Willennium", on which they do a duet together titled, "Who Am I".
You can hear a rap Will does about Tatyana on track 2, "Boy You Knock Me Out", of her debut album. It goes something like this:
Here it is a groove slightly transformed again
But with a Tatyana Ali spin, I knew her since she was 10
As Fresh Prince from back then, I had a sense she would win
Whatever good she was in, now she's all grown up, not Ashley
Man, sexy, true, but classy, she's in the fast lane under my wing
Kissing the sky, Tatyana Ali, girl you knock me out
Tatyana remembers the first time she heard this:
"I remember I was in New York," Ali said, "and I was in the car, and I started crying like a stupid baby, yes."
"You didn't get to hear it until it was finally done, right?" Serena asked.
"Not until it was done," Ali said, "I mean, it wouldn't seem that great to anybody else, but for me, he's almost known me for 10 years, almost 10 years, and he was saying things in there about me. Like about me, but not to me. [They were] things that I shouldn't hear, things that he would say to somebody [about me], but never directly to my face."
"Will and I worked together in the series and now he's the executive producer of my upcoming album. I'm so glad because Will is one of those people who make you feel so good around them."
"I think I spent 10 or 15 minutes crying my eyes out, like everbody else in the cast, because it was all over," Tatyana remember of the sad day their series ended.
She used to go out with Johnathan Brandis, but they decided to split. They did star in a movie together and she once guest-starred on his sitcom.
Tatyana is half Indian and half Negro.
She is attending Harvard, but still has time to balance her career as well. She will next co-star along Sisqo for his next video and mini-movie, "Unleash the Dragon", in which she gets to play a damsel in distress! Sorry guys, rumor has it sparks have been flying between the young artists. Guess we'll see.
Click here for the lyrics to Will and Tatyana's duet, Who Am I
PAGE 2 OF TATAYANA ALI PICTURES!
