| This article is about 1990s series. You may be looking for the 2022 reboot character. |
Ashley Banks is one of the two tritagonists (alongside Hilary Banks) of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. She is portrayed by Tatyana Ali.
History[]
Ashley Banks is the youngest daughter of Philip and Vivian Banks, the sister of Carlton, Nicky and Hillary Banks, and the cousin of Will Smith. She was born on August 26, 1979.
Ashley enjoys the time she spends with her mother, but is arguably the closest with her cousin, Will, who is a huge inspiration to her. Ashley looked up to Will as a big brother and spent much of her time following him in her younger days. Their bond was so tight that in the episode "Will Gets A Job", Will states that if he had a choice to be any of Phillip's kids, it would be Ashley. Furthermore, Will's more laidback attitude in comparison to his relatives proved to be an exciting alternative for Ashley, and because of this, she tends to be generally more sympathetic and understanding towards him than other members of the Banks family. Because of Will's influence towards Ashley, she often acts rebelliously as she gets older, causing her father to become angry at Will for not being a responsible role model. Phillip being the honorable, by-the-rules kind of man he is, tends to discourage Ashley's regular teenage acts of rebellion. However, as the series progresses, most of his actions did nothing to prevent Ashley from being rebellious.
An example of her rebellion fueled by Will's actions is in the episode "Father Knows Best", which reveals that she dropped out of her private school and secretly enrolled in a public high school. She planned to hide this action from her parents, though after a failed plot when Will posed as Ashley's father in a parent-teacher conference, Will convinces her to come clean.
Another act of rebelion fueled by Will's actions is in the episode "It's a Wonderful Lie", when Will and Lisa attend a college party, where Will walks into a room accidentally where he finds Ashley making out with a college quarterback, which shakes Will to his core as Ashley is only 15. He learns that she heard about the party from a friend's older brother who attend the same college as Will and Lisa. She tried to bribe him into keeping it a secret from Phil and Vivian, but ultimately it backfires when Will confesses right away. After the reveal, Phil and Vivian learn about the party, they tear Ashley a new one and ground her. But after Will convinces Phil and Vivian that Ashley isn't a little girl anymore, they unground her.
However, as the series progresses and Ashley gets into her later teen years, she and Will begin to drift apart as he begins to shed his Philly persona, and become more responsible and overbearing, similar to her father. She soon begins to explore her own identity and begins to see boys and have a group of her own age.
As she gets into Ashley even begins to grow apart from Will, as he begins to shade the "cool cousin" persona, and adopts a more mature and responsible image, while she begins spending time with her own friends and exploring her own identity of
Ashley matures very much in the series; she becomes a one-hit-wonder with a hit song called "Make Up Your Mind" in the two-part season five premiere "What's Will Got to Do With It?" and "The Client"; however, her career quickly fizzles out when her album doesn't sell. Ashley also strives to become a fashion model after being discovered by the president of a model agency at her job 'Dippity Do Dog' in "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do".
In the series finale, Ashley decided to attend a performing arts school in New York City. Hillary's talk show "The Hillary Show" was relocated to New York City and the two sisters decide to live together. They become extremely excited about the whole idea, much to the annoyance and reluctance of Phillip, who does not want to lose his daughters, and decides to move his practice and the rest of the family over to New York.
Ashley appeared in 144 episodes of the series.
Relationships[]
Vivian Banks - Mother (Also mother to Hillary, Carlton and later Nicky Banks)
Phillip Banks - Father (Also father to Hillary, Carlton and later Nicky Banks)
Hillary Banks - Sister (Oldest child)
Carlton Banks - Brother (eldest brother)
Nicky Banks - Brother (youngest child)
William "Will" Banks - Cousin (son of Viola Smith and Lou Smith)
Geoffrey Butler - (Butler for the family)
Ages[]
Season 1 11[]
Season 2 12[]
Season 3 13[]
Season 4 14[]
Season 5 15[]
Season 6 16[]
Trivia[]
- One thing in the season 3-6, is that she never ages. Mostly she was 15 and never moved up the age for the last 4 seasons.
- She along with her brother Carlton Banks appeared in fellow NBC sitcom In The House in the episode titled "Dog Catchers".