A character actress with an extensive and decades-long career in some of the most well-known American television shows of their time, Vernee Watson-Johnson was perhaps most familiar to a generation as Viola 'Vy' Smith, the mother of Will Smith's lead character in the hugely popular sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" ...
April Parker Jones (Supergirl) has been cast as Will's mother Viola “Vy” Smith, our sister Deadline reports. She succeeds Vernee Watson, who appeared throughout all six seasons of the 1990-96 sitcom.
Vy is Will's mother and the oldest of the Smith sisters. Because of her marriage to Fred Wilkes, she is also the stepmother of his daughter, Lisa Wilkes. She is also the ex-wife of Lou Smith.
While not a biological son of Uncle Phil or Aunt Viv, Will is related to the Banks family on account of his mother being the older sister of Vivian Banks.
Hubert, best known as "the original Aunt Viv," left the sitcom after the first three seasons over "creative differences." She was promptly replaced by actress Daphne Maxwell Reid the following season without any mention of the recasting.
And during the show's season one finale, we finally reunited with Will's father, Lou (played, this time, by Marlon Wayans). For those who don't remember, Lou (originally played by Ben Vereen) abandoned his family in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" when Will was just 5 years old, leaving Vy to raise Will on her own.
Will's Uncle Phil is a judge, who later becomes a politician, while his Aunt Vivian, his mother's younger sister, is an English professor at a local Los Angeles university.
Who was Will's father from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air? His name is Lou. He appeared in "Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse". He and his mother were together but his father abandoned him because he was "scared".
Later on, Will meets Lisa Wilkes, who have a strong relationship, so strong that makes Will give up his "chicktionary" to Carlton, stating that he's a one-woman man. Their relationship goes a step further when Will proposes to Lisa in a hospital. In the end, Will and Lisa have their wedding.
Janet Louise Hubert (born January 13, 1956) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for playing the role of the original Vivian Banks on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from its first season in 1990 until the end of its third season in 1993.
Bel-Air's cameos of the second Aunt Viv and original Viola Smith are the perfect way for the iconic sitcom to pass the torch over to a new generation in reimagining Fresh Prince's important story.
Will and Jada first met in 1994 when a then 19-year-old Jada auditioned to play Will's girlfriend on NBC's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." In 2017, Jada told "Extra" that she wasn't cast because they told her she was "too short to play Will's girlfriend" — she's 5-foot and he's 6-foot-2.
Who was the pregnant lady in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
Vivian acts strange all day, and she finally tells Philip the reason - she is pregnant. Vivian and Philip clean up their old neighborhood and everyone in the family has to pitch in. Vivian acts strange all day, and she finally tells Philip the reason - she is pregnant.
This is the highest-rated episode of the series. Will Smith considers it the most emotional episode because of his feelings about his father, both on the show and in reality. His real-life father was there for him growing up (despite being separated from his mother), but many of his friends never knew their fathers.
Will manages to overcome these doubts but Lisa reveals that she is also having doubts and the two decide not to marry. The night before the wedding, Lisa and Will send Vy and Lisa's father, Fred, to a restaurant to get to know each other, and they are later caught sleeping together.
Why did Will Smith keep his name in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
Fresh Prince's original show decided to use Will Smith's real name because Smith already had name recognition from his music career, plus Smith and Carlton actor Alfonso Ribeiro realized they would be called by their characters' names for eternity if the show became a hit.
How old is Will Smith supposed to be in Fresh Prince?
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Will is 16 years old when he first arrives in California, whereas the real life Will was just two weeks short of his 22nd birthday when the series debuted.
Will's preppy cousin, Carlton was supposed to be the same age as Will, as they attended high school together and were presumably in the same grade. In real life, the actor Alfonso Ribeiro was just 19 years old, a few years younger than Smith.
But Peacock's Bel-Air — like it's already demonstrated in its first 10 episodes — is nothing like the '90s sitcom that starred Will Smith in the title role. In the season one finale of the drama, Marlon Wayans shows up as Lou, the long lost father of Will (Jabari Banks).
What happened to Will Smith's dad in Fresh Prince?
Lou abandoned his family (Will and Viola "Vy" Smith) when Will was five years old and explains his motives for leaving by saying he was scared to be a father and started to feel trapped. Sometime during the 14-year period that he was absent from Will's life, he became a trucker.
Decades later, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's theme song remains timely and relevant, both musically and within culture as a whole. But whereas the lyrics mirror Smith's real-life story, the series' premise was inspired by someone from the east side of Los Angeles - not the west part of Philadelphia.
Was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air father scene scripted?
Fans of the show have long believed that Smith improvised that final scene in which his character builds to an emotional crescendo, loudly proclaiming all the milestones he got through without Lou, but “every word was written by Bill and I,” Zuckerman said.
