Background and career
Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro (born September 21, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, dancer and television host. In a career spanning over four decades, he first gained notability for his role as Carlton Banks on the NBC television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), as well as his performances on Silver Spoons (1984–1987) and In the House (1996–1999). Ribeiro started his career as a child actor and gained recognition for his titular performance in the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid. He later competed in the thirteenth season of the British survival show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Ribeiro later began hosting ABC's video clip series America's Funniest Home Videos as well as co-hosting the reality competition series Dancing with the Stars with Julianne Hough. He won the latter program's nineteenth season alongside professional dancer Witney Carson, with whom he presented the GSN game show Catch 21.
Ribeiro was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx to parents of Trinidadian descent. His paternal grandfather was Albert Ribeiro, a professional calypsonian dancer known as Lord Hummingbird. His aunt had been a dancer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the 1960s and 1970s.
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 and the Jacksons in 1984; a rumor spread that Ribeiro died from snapping his neck while dancing in the commercial. The same year, Ribeiro was cast as Ricky Schroder's best friend on the TV series Silver Spoons, after which he and his family moved to Los Angeles. In 1985, Ribeiro authored a dance instruction book, Alfonso's Breakin' & Poppin' Book, and appeared in a commercial advertising it. He also released four 12-inch singles on Prism Records, including the 1984 track "Dance Baby". After Silver Spoons ended, Ribeiro took a hiatus from acting to finish high school and attend California State University, Los Angeles.
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". Ribeiro based "The Carlton" on Eddie Murphy's "white man dance" and Courteney Cox's dance from Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" music video.
Ribeiro starred on the sitcom In the House with LL Cool J from 1997 to 1999. He graduated from the New York Film Academy in 1999 and would go on to direct episodes of One on One, All of Us, Meet the Browns, Are We There Yet?, Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover. Ribeiro 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. In 2002, Ribeiro returned to the stage in an Encores! revival of the musical Golden Boy, starring as Joe Wellington. 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. From 2008 to 2016, Ribeiro hosted the game show Catch 21 on GSN. 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. On July 24, he began hosting his second game show, Spell-Mageddon, on ABC Family. On November 17, Ribeiro became 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, 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 and 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. After his victory, he hosted the nationwide live tour for the show. On May 19, 2015, Ribeiro was named Tom Bergeron's successor to host America's Funniest Home Videos. In July, Ribeiro made a cameo appearance in the music video for "All Night" by pop-rock band R5. In September, he returned to Dancing with the Stars as a guest judge in week three of season 21, and he substituted for Bergeron as host the following week, after Bergeron's father became ill. In October 2018, he was announced as the host of the British game show Money Tree. That month, it was also announced that Ribeiro would sit in for Bruno Tonioli as guest judge on Strictly Come Dancing for week 5, joining regular judges Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, and Shirley Ballas. This would also occur in week 5 of the 2019 series. Catch 21 was revived in 2019, and Ribeiro returned as the host, with his former Dancing with the Stars partner Witney Carson joining as co-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 Chris Paul impersonator. In 2021, he voiced a character in Muppets Haunted Mansion. In 2022, Ribeiro joined season 31 of Dancing with the Stars as co-host of the show, alongside host Tyra Banks. After Banks departed the show following season 31, Ribeiro became the main host of the show, with Julianne Hough joining as co-host, assuming Ribeiro's previous role.
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, co-hosted by radio veteran Daena "DK" Kramer. The three-hour weekly show celebrates 1990s music and culture while Ribeiro and Kramer share their stories, pop culture facts and memories from the 1990s.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
