Alfonso Ribeiro

Alfonso Ribeiro
Ribeiro in 2011
Born
Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro

(1971-09-21) September 21, 1971 (age 52)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • television host
Years active1980–present
Spouses
  • Robin Stapler
    (m. 2002; div. 2006)
  • Angela Unkrich
    (m. 2012)
Children4

Alfonso Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television host. He is best known for his roles as Carlton Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Alfonso Spears on the sitcom Silver Spoons, and Maxwell Stanton on In the House. He is the current host of ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, taking over for Tom Bergeron, who left after 15 years. Ribeiro has hosted the GSN game show Catch 21, the ABC Family show Spell-Mageddon, and the television show Dance 360. At the beginning of his career, he starred in the title role of the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid and later took part in the 13th season of the British reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Ribeiro won season 19 of Dancing with the Stars with professional partner Witney Carson, then later became the co-host alongside Tyra Banks starting from season 31. Ribeiro has served as the main host of Dancing with the Stars alongside co-host Julianne Hough beginning with season 32 in 2023.

Early life

Ribeiro was born in New York City in the Riverdale neighborhood of The Bronx to Afro-Trinidadian parents. His paternal grandfather was Albert Ribeiro, a Trinidadian calypsonian of African and Portuguese descent, known professionally as Lord Hummingbird.

Career

Early work

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 Rick Schroder's best friend on the TV series Silver Spoons.

In 1985, Ribeiro appeared as himself in a commercial on MTV, advertising a dance instruction book he authored, Alfonso's Breakin' & Poppin' Book. He also released four 12-inch singles on Prism Records, including the 1984 track, "Dance Baby".

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

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".

Later work

He later starred on the sitcom In the House with LL Cool J from 1997 to 1999.

Ribeiro competed as one of the celebrity singers on the reality television show Celebrity Duets in September 2006, winning over the runner-up Lucy Lawless. In July 2008, Ribeiro hosted the game show Catch 21 on GSN. He directed some episodes of Meet the Browns and a majority of the Season 2 episodes of the Are We There Yet? television series. Ribeiro hosted his second game show Spell-Mageddon, on ABC Family, in 2013.

On May 24, 2013, Ribeiro made a cameo appearance on The Graham Norton Show to perform "The Carlton Dance", with show guests Will and Jaden Smith. In November of that year, Ribeiro took part as a contestant in the thirteenth series of the British reality show, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. He was eliminated from the show on December 5, 2013, finishing in seventh place.

On September 4, 2014, Ribeiro was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on Season 19 of Dancing with the Stars. He partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson. He became the fourth celebrity dancer in the show's history to receive a 9 from each judge in week one. On November 25, 2014, Ribeiro and Carson won the competition. In September 2015, he returned as a guest judge in week three of season 21, and he substituted for Tom Bergeron as host the following week.

On May 19, 2015, Ribeiro was named Bergeron's successor to host America's Funniest Home Videos. In July 2015, Ribeiro made a cameo appearance in the music video for "All Night" by pop-rock band R5.

In October 2018, he was announced as the host of the British game show Money Tree. On October 12, 2018, Ribeiro was announced to sit in for Bruno Tonioli as guest judge on Strictly Come Dancing for week 5. He joined regular judges Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, and Shirley Ballas. This also occurred for week 5 of the 2019 series. He also 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.

Catch 21 was revived in 2019, and Ribeiro returned as the host. His role earned him a 2020 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host, but he lost to Alex Trebek. He earned another nomination the following year, but again lost to Trebek.

In 2020, Ribeiro starred in a series of commercials for State Farm Insurance as a fanatic of Chris Paul. In 2021, Ribeiro voiced a character in Muppets Haunted Mansion.

In season 31 of Dancing with the Stars, Ribeiro joined as co-host of the show, alongside host Tyra Banks. After Banks departed the show following season 31, Ribeiro will assume his role as the main host of the show, with Julianne Hough joining as co-host, assuming Ribeiro's previous role.

The ’90s with Alfonso Ribeiro

On July 6, 2019, the syndicated radio show The ’90s with Alfonso Ribeiro launched on multiple radio stations across the country via Sun Broadcast Group. Radio veteran Daena "DK" Kramer joined him as co-host. The three-hour weekly show celebrates 1990s music and culture while Alfonso and DK share their stories, pop culture facts and memories from the 1990s.

Personal life

Family

Ribeiro was married to Robin Stapler from January 2002 until August 2006. They have a daughter, born in October 2002.

Ribeiro married Angela Unkrich on October 13, 2012, following a three-month engagement. The two live in Los Angeles and have three children born in 2013, 2015, and 2019.

Motorsports

Ribeiro competed in several editions of the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race car race at Long Beach, earning an overall win in 2015 and celebrity class wins in 1994, 1995 and 2016. He also worked as radio spotter for CART racecar driver Bryan Herta, and performed the national anthem at CART and IndyCar Series races.

Lawsuit against Epic Games

In December 2018, Ribeiro, along with Instagram star Russell Horning, aka Backpack Kid, and rapper Terrence Ferguson, aka 2 Milly, brought a lawsuit against Epic Games for their decision to feature respective choreographies in the popular game Fortnite. In Ribeiro's case, his "Carlton dance", which he made popular in the 1990s as a cast member of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is one of the many dances that Fortnite players can purchase for their avatars. Epic Games declined to comment on the lawsuits. The U.S. Copyright Office denied him a copyright for his dance on January 13, 2019. On March 7, 2019, Ribeiro dropped the lawsuit.

Filmography

Acting

Film and television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 OYE Willie TV series
1984–1987 Silver Spoons Alfonso Spears Recurring role; 72 episodes
1986 John Grin's Christmas Rocky Television film
1986 Magnum, P.I. Kenneth Episodes: "L.A." (2 hours), "Missing Melody"
1987 Mighty Pawns Frank Television film
1990 A Different World Zach Duncan Episode: "Hillmann Isn't Through With You Yet"
1990–1996 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Carlton Banks 147 episodes
1993 Ticks Darrel "Panic" Lumnley
1994 Bill Nye, the Science Guy Himself Episode: "Food Web"
1994 Soul Train Host Guest-hosted one episode
1994–1998 Spider-Man Randy Robertson / Teenage Robbie Robertson Voice
1996–1999 In the House Dr. Maxwell Stanton 51 episodes
1996 Kidz in the Wood Television film
1997 Extreme Ghostbusters Roland Jackson Voice
1999 V.I.P. Himself Episode: "The Last Temptation of Val"
2000 Your Big Break Host Game show
2001 Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase Moon Goon #1 Voice, television film
2001 One on One Lenny Richburg Episode: "Me and My Shadow"
2001 The Weakest Link Himself/contestant Game Show
2005 Love Wrecked Bert Hernandez
2006 Celebrity Duets Himself/contestant Winner
2008–2009 GSN Live Host
2008–2011, 2019–2020 Catch 21 Host Game show, 365 episodes
2011 Things We Do for Love Darren 4 episodes; also director
2012 Big Time Rush Captain McAllister Episode: "Bel Air Rush"
2013 Shake It Up Mr. Zigfeld Episode: "My Fair Librarian it Up"
2013 Spell-Mageddon Host 8 episodes
2013 The Graham Norton Show Himself UK comedy-chat show; cameo appearance in season 13, episode 8
2013 I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Himself/contestant UK reality-competition show
2014 Dancing with the Stars Himself/contestant Season 19 winner
2015–2017 Unwrapped 2.0 Host/narrator Cooking Channel series
2015–present America's Funniest Home Videos Host/narrator ABC series
2016 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Himself Season 12 Episode 1
2016 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself (Celebrity Guest) Episode: "Alfonso Ribeiro vs. Mario Batali"
2018–2019 Strictly Come Dancing Himself (Guest Judge) Filled in for Bruno Tonioli
2021–present America's Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition Host Nat Geo Wild series
2021 Muppets Haunted Mansion Fred TV special
2022–present Dancing with the Stars Co-Host/Host Disney+ series
2022 Big City Greens Mr. Extras Voice, episode: "Virtually Christmas"

Directing

Television
Year Title Notes Ref.
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Episode: "I, Ooh, Baby, Baby"
1997-1998 In the House 4 Episodes
2006–2007 All of Us 26 episodes
2009–2010 Meet the Browns 8 episodes
2011–2012 Are We There Yet? 19 episodes
2012–2013 Shake It Up 7 episodes
2014 Mighty Med 1 episode
2015 Young & Hungry Episode: "Young & Part Two" (season 2)
2015–2018 K.C. Undercover 2 episodes

Dancing with the Stars performances

Ribeiro was partnered with Witney Carson for season 19. On November 25, 2014, Ribeiro and Carson were declared the season's champions.

In November 2017, Ribeiro returned to 25th season in Week eight, to participate in a trio Jive with Frankie Muniz and his professional partner Witney Carson.

Week # Dance / Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Hough Tonioli
1 Jive / "3-6-9" 9 9 9 9 Safe
2 Samba / "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" 8 8 8 8 Safe
3 Quickstep / "Hey Goldmember" 8 81 8 8 Safe
4 Jazz / "It's Not Unusual" 10 102 10 10 Safe
53 Flamenco / "Angelica" 8 94 9 8 No elimination
6 Salsa / "Booty" 10 105 9 10 Safe
7
9
8
9
8
9
8
9
8
Safe
8
10
Awarded
9
3
9
Extra
10
Points
Safe
9 9
10
9
10
9
10
10
10
Safe
10
Semi-finals
9
10
9
9
9
10
9
10
Safe
11
Finals
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
Winner

1 Score given by guest judge Kevin Hart in place of Goodman.

2The American public scored the dance in place of Goodman with the averaged score being counted alongside the three other judges.

3This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Ribeiro performed with Cheryl Burke instead of Carson.

4Score given by guest judge Jessie J in place of Goodman.

5Score given by guest judge Pitbull in place of Goodman.


This page was last updated at 2023-11-10 14:24 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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