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Tatyana Ali

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GenreRap
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Albums1
Songs18
About"Believe in yourself and your talent 100% and never let anyone discourage you from following your dream." -Tatyana Ali

Early life
Ali was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1979. Her mother Sonia was a nurse of Panamanian descent, while her father, Sheriff Ali, was a retired police officer of Indo-Trinidadian descent. She has two younger sisters, Anastasia and Kimberly. She attended Saw Mill Road Elementary School in Bellmore, New York, Marymount High School in West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, and The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California. In 2002, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Government and African American Studies from Harvard University.

"I believe in fate, I believe in hard work, and I feel like if I just keep marching, the path will kind of appear before me." -T.A.

Career
By the age of seven, Ali had begun her singing career. She was a regular child performer on Sesame Street starting in 1985, even appearing with Herbie Hancock in a musical number. By age five, she won Star Search two times. She made her breakthrough when she was cast as Ashley Banks for the popular television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990. She sang on various episodes of the show, including Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and the original song "Make Up Your Mind" produced by Rob Jay of Nspyre Music Productions. Will Smith asked her if she seriously considered pursuing a musical career. Despite her singing ability, she concentrated on her acting career on Fresh Prince the next few years.

In the penultimate season of Fresh Prince in 1996, Ali began preparing herself for her musical debut. The result was the album Kiss The Sky, which was certified gold in early 1999. The album spawned the hit song "Daydreamin'", produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, which peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart. The album spawned two further UK hits, "Boy You Knock Me Out", featuring Will Smith, which peaked at #3 and is her biggest hit to date; and "Everytime", which was her third top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at #20. She made an appearance in Smith's album Willennium for the track "Who Am I" with MC Lyte.

In 2005, she completed work on the film Glory Road and starred in the music video for Nick Cannon and Anthony Hamilton's "Can I Live?" as Cannon's mother.

She ranked #74 on VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars".

In early 2008, she lent her vocal talents to the song "Yes We Can," a Will.i.am project supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign. She also appeared in the subsequent music video which gained coverage on the "What the Buzz" segment of ABC's World News Now.

She is currently preparing to release her second album, which she describes as "an independent effort". The album is titled "The Light". Much of the album's production was being handled by famed Tupac Shakur's producer Johnny "J".
She is also producing and starring in the web show, BUPPIES.
She is currently on recurring status on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Roxanne.

She also went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Anthropology in June 2002. She is now working on her new album as well as starring in more movies.

Personal life
Tatyana Ali dated late American actor Jonathan Brandis from 1995 to 2001,with whom she co-starred in the TV movie Fall into Darkness.

Ali traveled the United States as a spokesperson for Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign. Ali headed voter registration drives at college campuses, including many historically black colleges and universities.

"I actually studied political studies and Afro-American studies in school, which was my major. I'm very interested in politics privately, but I think that each individual should be politically active. It's really important because politics affects your everyday life; it affects how much we pay for gas. Hello? Those are the things you're voting for in the booth, and I think people forget that. The next big fight is to get people to come out in the general election against McCain." -T.A
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