Will Smith only agreed to star in the show because of his debt to the IRS.
Easily one of the most the recognizable shows of the 90's, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ignited the acting career of one the most recognizable actors of this century. It also gave us possibly one of the greatest theme songs EVER.
While the show enjoyed a life in the limelight, it definitely has it's share of secrets. From financial troubles to secret diaries, lets take a look!
Starting as the world renown rapper “The Fresh Prince”, Will Smith found widespread success in the late 80s and early 90s. But with that success came a larger financiall responsibility, and due to severe overspending and poor financial management, Will Smith owed the IRS 2.8 million dollars.
The IRS garnished 70% of his wages for 3 years.
Fortunately for him though, at the height of his money troubles, Will Smith was cast by Quincy Jones for his new sit-com “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Due to his previous money troubles, Will Smith had his property seized and his income severely garnished.
The Fresh Prince was his first acting role.
This continued for 3 years until the 2.8 million was paid off.
Will Smith, looking back, said he is totally embarrassed of his first few episodes of the show. "I was trying so hard," he said. "I would memorize the entire script, then I'd be lipping everybody's lines while they were talking.
The actual house from the show isn’t in Bel-Air.
When I watch those episodes, it's disgusting. My performances were horrible."
The houses used for exterior shots in the show is actually located in the neighboring area Brentwood.
Unless you’re in the Netherlands, you can’t buy a physical copy of the soundtrack.
Since Bel-Air is a closed community, choosing a house in a more open location made shooting that much easier.
The cast kept a secret diary in the set’s kitchen drawer.
While the shows soundtrack is now available on streaming and digital services such as Spotify and iTunes, the only physical release was an extended mix of the shows theme song released in Holland in 1992.
Earlier this year, Hilary Banks actress Karyn Parsons revealed that the cast kept a secret diary in the set kitchen’s island."Every now and then a camera person or the actors, somebody would just write silly poetry or 'James is getting on my nerves,'" she said. "We would make little notes, so I took that.
Geoffrey the Butler had a first and last name.
I need to pull that out, especially now that James has passed, because I know he's written in there. I know he was written about.” Karyn took the diary with her when she left the show.
Contrary to popular belief, Quincy Jones is not the cabbie in the shows intro.
Geoffrey’s full name was Geoffrey Barbara Butler.
Many sites (even IMDB) state the Quincy Jones is the driver of the fuzzy diced cab, but Rashida Jones and Jada Pinkett Smith both say that the driver is “absolutely not” Mr. Jones.
Carlton’s Dance was inspired by Eddie Murphy and Courtney Cox.
Their statements coupled with the fact that Jones never learned to drive due to a car accident at age 14 that left him mentally scarred, it looks like this is a mystery that still needs to be solved.
Tyra Banks first acting role was on show.
"There was a video of Bruce Springsteen and Courteney Cox called 'Dancing in the Dark,' and Bruce Springsteen pulls her up onto the stage and she basically does that dance," said Carlton actor Alfonso Ribeiro, "And it was also from Eddie Murphy’s Delirious comedy video where he does 'the white man dance.' And what I did was ultimately take those two dances and combined them and made it my own, and made it my character’s."
Nicky’s middle names were inspired by Boyz II Men.
Tyra Banks played Will Smith’s on-screen girlfriend, Jackie, in a season 4 episode.
Nicky, the son of Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv born in season 3, has a full name of Nicholas Andrew Michael Shawn Nathan Wanya Banks.
Will Smith and now wife Jada Pinkett Smith met during auditions for the show
The members of Boyz II Men (Michael, Shawn, Nathan, and Wanya, respectively) actually appeared in a season 4 episode for a performance at Nicky’s christening.
Originally auditioning for Will’s on-screen girlfriend, Jada didn’t get the part, but that didn’t stop the 2 from getting married in 1997.
Will Smith was the creator of multiple episodes.
They’ve been together ever since.
The Fresh Prince not only made Will Smith a successful actor, it kick-started his work behind the camera as well.
Aunt Vivian was played by 2 different actresses.
Will helped write multiple episodes during the shows run, one of the most notable being season 3 episode “Ain’t No Business Like Show Business.”
Janet Hubert played the character during the first 3 seasons and Daphne Maxwell played Aunt Vivian during the last 3 seasons. Hubert said that when the show’s producers offered her a 10 episode contract that would restrict her from working on any other project during the contract's duration, she declined to sign.
The show had a lot of famous guest stars.
At this, the producers just simply recast the character.
The show was cancelled… then brought back.
Queen Latifah, Hugh Hefner, Jay Leno, Boyz II Men, Bel Biv Devo, Don Cheadle, Donald Trump, and Oprah all made appearances.
NBC decided to cancel the show in it’s fourth season, with the Fresh Prince heading back to Philadelphia at the end of the season. Due to fan outcry however, NBC decided to bring the show back for another 2 seasons.
The theme song incited a school lockdown.
Season 5 starts with an NBC executive pulling Smith into a van to drive him back to California, saying "It's called the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not The Fresh Prince of Philadelphia."
In 2013, a receptionist from Ambridge Area High School in Pennsylvania called a student to remind him of an upcoming appointment. He didn’t answer, and the receptionist was directed to the student’s voicemail.
In his answering message, the student imitated the show’s theme song, and the receptionist thought he said “shooting people outside of the school” instead of “shooting some b-ball outside of the school.” The local police brought the student into custody, although he was later released.