Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons Rockwell is an American actress, author and comedian. She is best known for her role as Hilary Banks on the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" from 1990 to 1996. Parsons also starred in the 1995 film "Major Payne" opposite Damon Wayans, and in "The Job" (2001–2002) as Toni. Early life. Parsons was born in Los Angeles, California. In an interview for "Essence" in 2008, she described her parentage as biracial. Her mother, Louise Parsons, is African American from Charleston, South Carolina and her father, Kenneth B. Parsons, is British American of English and  Welsh descent and from Butte, Montana. She attended Santa Monica High School. Career. Parsons starred as Hilary Banks on the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", which aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996. She co-created, co-produced, co-wrote, and co-starred on the Fox sitcom "Lush Life" in 1996, which was later canceled after four episodes. In 2001, she starred in the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series "The Job" with Denis Leary. Besides television, Parsons has starred in several films, particularly in comedies such as "Late Nights" (1992), "Major Payne" (1995), and "The Ladies  Man" (2000). Parsons is the founder of the Sweet Blackberry Foundation, which produces animated films and books about unsung black heroes. The first video in the series was about Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom. Parsons has also published three books for children: a middle-grade novel, "How High the Moon" (2019), which was loosely inspired by stories of her mother's childhood in the Jim Crow South; and two Sweet Blackberry picture-book biographies about black historical figures, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie: "Flying Free" (2020) about pioneering aviator Bessie Coleman, and "Saving the Day  (2021) about inventor Garrett Morgan. Personal life. Parsons married The Young and the Restless" actor Randy Brooks in 1987; they divorced in 1990. Parsons married director Alexandre Rockwell in 2003. Together they have a daughter, Lana, and a son, Nico.