Karyn Parsons

{{Infobox person

| name = Karyn Parsons

| image = Karyn Parsons 2021 (51651243095) (cropped).jpg

| caption = Parsons in 2021

| birth_name = Karen L. Parsons

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1966|10|8}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|author|comedian}}

| years_active = 1987–2002
2019–present

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{Marriage|Randy Brooks
|1987|1990|end=div.}}
{{Marriage|Alexandre Rockwell
|2003}}

}}

| children = 2

}}

Karyn Parsons Rockwell (born October 8, 1966) 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 on October 8, 1966, in Los Angeles, California.{{cite web |title=Karyn Parsons |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/148128%7C0/Karyn-Parsons |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=July 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430022221/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/148128%7C0/Karyn-Parsons/ |archive-date=April 30, 2019}} In an interview for Essence in 2008, she described her parentage as biracial.{{Cite web |url=http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2008/07/01/karyn-parsonsits-hard-being-biracial-in-americaraising-biracial-kids/ |title=KARYN PARSONS:it's HARD BEING BIRACIAL IN AMERICA/RAISING BIRACIAL KIDS |work=Black Celeb Kids|access-date=January 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227054207/http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2008/07/01/karyn-parsonsits-hard-being-biracial-in-americaraising-biracial-kids/ |archive-date=December 27, 2011|url-status=dead }} Her mother, Louise (née Hankerson) Parsons, was an African-American from Charleston, South Carolina, and her father, Kenneth B. Parsons, was of English and Welsh descent, from Butte, Montana. She attended Santa Monica High School.{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800234162/bio|title=Karyn Parsons Biography |work=Yahoo! Movies|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619120330/https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800234162/bio|archive-date=June 19, 2006}}{{Better source needed|date=October 2020}}

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,{{Cite web|url=https://www.sweetblackberry.org/|title=Sweet Blackberry Foundation|language=en-US|access-date=2022-03-10}} 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.{{cite web |last=Maltais |first=Michelle |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-22-wk-kids22-story.html |title=Delivered from slavery |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 22, 2005 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}

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;{{Cite web|url=https://www.essence.com/celebrity/karyn-parsons-debut-novel-how-high-the-moon/|title=You'll Want To Add 'Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' Star Karyn Parsons' Debut Novel To Your Bookshelf|last=Rogo|first=Paula|date=August 18, 2018|website=Essence|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-17}} 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 director Alexandre Rockwell in 2003.{{cite web |last1=Spencer |first1=Ashley |title=What Happened to 'Fresh Prince' Star Karyn Parsons? |date=2 October 2019 |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evj5kz/what-happened-to-fresh-prince-of-bel-air-star-karyn-parsons-hilary-banks-2019 |publisher=Vice |access-date=3 October 2019}} Together they have a daughter, Lana, and a son, Nico.{{cite web |last=Hunt |first=Stephen |url=https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/theatre/fresh-princes-hilary-produces-a-little-black-history |title=Fresh Prince's Hilary Produces a Little Black History |work=Calgary Herald |publisher=Postmedia Network |date=February 3, 2008 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}