Alfonso Ribeiro Shares How He Changed Will Smith's Life onThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Mar. 15, 2025

Alfonso Ribeirois sharing an insight into how he changedWill Smith’s life while they working on theFresh Prince of Bel-Airtogether.In a December episode ofVICE’sBlack Comedy in Americaseries, Smith, 56, listed his bond with Ribeiro, 53, as one of the"creative relationships I’ve had that have totally transformed my life.“Smith explained that his costar was always “giving everything” duringFresh Princerehearsals, which taught him a great deal.And during the Thursday, March 13, episode ofThe Jennifer Hudson Show,Ribeiro reacted to Smith’s compliment and reflected on their friendship and time working together.Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro in a promo photo for ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’.NBCU Photo Bank/Getty"It was wonderful to hear him say that. Will is my brother for life. And obviously our friendship and bond has now withstood the time of four or five decades. He’s absolutely the best,” Ribeiro told hostJennifer Hudson, adding that “part of its true” and they “created incredible magic that can’t be repeated” on the set ofFresh Prince.Thedad of fourexplained his belief about fully committing during rehearsals, saying that it’s essential to give your all in those moments because he believes that “for writers to be able to deliver the best they can deliver, they need to see their work at 100% to know whether it worked or didn’t work. So I would always give 100% in all rehearsals because then the writer would be like, ‘Oh yeah, that joke didn’t work.’ And so I would get a new joke.“Alfonso added that sometimes “certain other actors” didn’t commit as fully, leaving them with a “joke that didn’t work” when it was time to film.“I believe that part of what I received onFresh Princewas because of the hard work that I would put in going 100% in all rehearsals allowed writers to write better lines for me,” he said.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.(Clockwise from top left) Janet Hubert, Will Smith, Joseph Marcell, Alfonso Ribeiro, Tatyana Ali, James Avery and Karyn Parsons in a ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ promotional photo.Chris Cuffaio/NBCU Photo Bank/GettyRibeiro said that it was “wonderful to hear Will give me some of my flowers.““Obviously, I give him flowers all the time. He is just so incredible. He is the most talented guy I know and the most dedicated guy I know. So it’s mutual love,” he said.Back in December, Smith told VICE that “there was like no question” that Ribeiro was “the one” when he auditioned to join the cast.“Nobody commits as hard as Alf. We call it the ‘comedic limb.’ You know where you gon’ try this joke and you gon' go out there with it and you gon' risk it all. And one of his big things, why he would commit so hard with the lines, he says, ‘You commit so the writers can know it doesn’t work,’ " Smith said.

Alfonso Ribeirois sharing an insight into how he changedWill Smith’s life while they working on theFresh Prince of Bel-Airtogether.

In a December episode ofVICE’sBlack Comedy in Americaseries, Smith, 56, listed his bond with Ribeiro, 53, as one of the"creative relationships I’ve had that have totally transformed my life.“Smith explained that his costar was always “giving everything” duringFresh Princerehearsals, which taught him a great deal.

And during the Thursday, March 13, episode ofThe Jennifer Hudson Show,Ribeiro reacted to Smith’s compliment and reflected on their friendship and time working together.

Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro in a promo photo for ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’.NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

“It was wonderful to hear him say that. Will is my brother for life. And obviously our friendship and bond has now withstood the time of four or five decades. He’s absolutely the best,” Ribeiro told hostJennifer Hudson, adding that “part of its true” and they “created incredible magic that can’t be repeated” on the set ofFresh Prince.

Thedad of fourexplained his belief about fully committing during rehearsals, saying that it’s essential to give your all in those moments because he believes that “for writers to be able to deliver the best they can deliver, they need to see their work at 100% to know whether it worked or didn’t work. So I would always give 100% in all rehearsals because then the writer would be like, ‘Oh yeah, that joke didn’t work.’ And so I would get a new joke.”

Alfonso added that sometimes “certain other actors” didn’t commit as fully, leaving them with a “joke that didn’t work” when it was time to film.

“I believe that part of what I received onFresh Princewas because of the hard work that I would put in going 100% in all rehearsals allowed writers to write better lines for me,” he said.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

(Clockwise from top left) Janet Hubert, Will Smith, Joseph Marcell, Alfonso Ribeiro, Tatyana Ali, James Avery and Karyn Parsons in a ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ promotional photo.Chris Cuffaio/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

Chris Cuffaio/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

Ribeiro said that it was “wonderful to hear Will give me some of my flowers.”

“Obviously, I give him flowers all the time. He is just so incredible. He is the most talented guy I know and the most dedicated guy I know. So it’s mutual love,” he said.

Back in December, Smith told VICE that “there was like no question” that Ribeiro was “the one” when he auditioned to join the cast.

“Nobody commits as hard as Alf. We call it the ‘comedic limb.’ You know where you gon’ try this joke and you gon' go out there with it and you gon' risk it all. And one of his big things, why he would commit so hard with the lines, he says, ‘You commit so the writers can know it doesn’t work,’ " Smith said.

source: people.com