Tatyana Ali was born in Long Island, New York on Janurary 24, 1979. That makes her 18 years of age right now. Her acting career began when, at the age of four, her parents brought her to a talent agent, who got her a four-year stint on Sesame Street. Ali has co-hosted two different Saturday morning programs, “Name Your Adventure” and “Brains and Brawn,” and starred in the TV movies “Mr. Foster’s Field Trip,” and “Kidz in the Wood.” Tatyana recently starred alongside her boyfriend, Jonathan Brandis in the made for TV movie: “Fall Into Darkness.” She guest starred on such series as “The Cosby Show,” “Hawk,” the daytime drama “All My Children” and the British series “Family Album.” Additionally, she starred in a television special titled “Sports Illustrated For Kids Olympic Special” and was a two-time winner in the singing competition on “Star Search.”
On Broadway Ali starred in the original cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fences,” with James Earl Jones, and later with Billy Dee Williams. Off-Broadway, she appeared in “Orfeo del Campo” and the musical “Sugar Hill.” Her feature films are “Eddie Murphy Raw” and “Crocodile Dundee II.” However, she is probably best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the show: “Fresh Prince of Bel Aire.”
Tatyana enjoys gymnastics, singing, dancing and swimming. She lives in Los Angeles with her parents, (Sheriff, a retired New York City police detective, and Sonia, a nurse) and two younger sisters (Anastasia and Kimberly).
Now, to get to her love life. She has been dating “Seaquest” and “Ladybugs” star Jonathan Brandis (now 20) for a long time now.
The Ali-Brandis relationship started slowly. At a mutual friend’s Halloween party in 1993, Brandis introduced himself to Ali–but soon left for Orlando, where seaQuest was filming. They occasionally ran into each other when he was at home, and last summer he dropped by her house a few times. She was interested, but kept her distance because, she says, “he was older, probably a lot more experienced. It was uncomfortable.” Finally he told her, “I’m going to stop coming over. And you’re going to miss me.” She thought that he was crazy, but the next day, she realized that he was right. That’s when it all began. Unfortunately, he soon had to head back to Orlando. Though her show was shot in L.A., they often visited each other on weekends. Since the cancellation of both of their shows, they have been able to spend a lot more time with each other.
Now a senior at a private high school in L.A., Ali has made a demo singing tape and hopes for a pop music career. While Jonathan has no intention of going to college, Tatyana sees college coming in her near future.
Tatyana’s middle name is Marisol.
