• Appeared on Star Search in 19??, beating her opponents several times.
• Touring with the "All That and More Music Festival" [1999]
• Started in showbiz at the age of four-and-a-half on the classic children's show "Sesame Street" (1969), most notably when she said her name into a Synclavier synthesizer that was being played by Herbie Hancock.
• Mother, Sonia.
• Father, Sheriff
• Appeared on Star Search in 1987 and was Junior Vocalist Champion
• Got her nose pierced when she turned 18
• Mother is a black Panamanian; father is from Trinidad.
• Graduated from Harvard University in June 2002 with a degree in government.
• Is of African and East Asian descent.
• Attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, California.
• Longtime girlfriend of the late Jonathan Brandis.

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."