Peacock’s highly anticipated drama series Bel-Air, a contemporary reimagining of the beloved and culture defining 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, has announced the full main cast.
The Bel-Air series regulars include:
Newcomer Jabari Banks as “Will” | Adrian Holmes as “Phillip Banks” (At That Age, V Wars) | Cassandra Freeman as “Vivian Banks” (The Enemy Within, Atlanta) | Olly Sholotan as “Carlton Banks” (Run Hide Fight, Evolution of Nate Gibson) | Coco Jones as “Hilary Banks” (Let it Shine, Vampires vs. The Bronx) | Akira Akbar as “Ashley Banks” (We Can Be Heroes, Captain Marvel) | Jimmy Akingbola as “Geoffrey” (Most Dangerous Game, In The Long Run) | Jordan L. Jones as “Jazz” (Rel, Snowfall) | Simone Joy Jones as “Lisa” (The Chair, What If). Read cast bios below.
Set in modern-day America, Bel-Air is a serialized one-hour dramatic analogue of the 90’s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” that leans into the original premise: Will’s complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air. With a reimagined vision, Bel-Air will dive deeper into the inherent conflicts, emotions and biases that were impossible to fully explore in a 30-minute sitcom format, while still delivering swagger and nods to the original show.
Will Smith previously surprised newcomer and West Philly local Jabari Banks with the iconic, leading role of “Will,” originated by Smith, HERE.
Morgan Cooper wrote and directed the four-minute spec trailer, debuting the video on social media in March 2019. The trailer, which currently has nearly 7 million views on YouTube, caught the attention of Smith, and in a reaction video Smith called the film and idea brilliant. Watch original trailer below!
Co-Showrunners / Executive Producers: T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson | Director / Co-Writer / Executive Producer: Morgan Cooper | Executive Producers: Will Smith, Terence Carter, James Lassiter, Miguel Melendez, Malcolm Spellman, Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, and Andy & Susan Borowitz | Produced By: Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Westbrook Studios, a division of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s media company Westbrook Inc.
Bel-Air Cast Bios:
ABOUT JABARI BANKS: Jabari Banks lives in West Philly. He graduated from University of the Arts in Philly in 2020. In addition to acting, Jabari is an accomplished songwriter, singer, rapper, and basketball player.
ABOUT ADRIAN HOLMES: With over 100 film and television credits to his name, award winning actor Adrian Holmes has become one to watch in the entertainment industry through the diverse and dynamic characters he has brought to life on screen. Holmes can be seen starring in Netflix’s vampire-drama series “V-Wars,” based on the popular best-selling book series by Jonathan Maberry. He also appeared on the second season of “Sacred Lies” as well as Amazon’s “The Boys”. On the film front, Holmes was recently seen in the Universal Pictures’ summer action-thriller “Skyscraper” alongside The Rock and “Chained” an indie feature that premiered in the fall of 2020 which has been a hit on the festival circuit. Holmes is well-known for starring as Nick Barron on Bravo’s original series, “19-2” and for his portrayal of “Captain Pike” on the long running CW series, “Arrow.” Born in Wrexham, North Wales, with family from Barbados, Holmes grew up in and around Vancouver, British Columbia.
ABOUT CASSANDRA “CASSIE” FREEMAN: Cassandra “Cassie” Freeman has made her mark in everything from drama to laugh out loud comedy across film, television and the stage. She is excited to return to the NBC family, where she most recently starred in THE ENEMY WITHIN. Freeman has also starred in memorable roles in TBS’ THE LAST OG, ABC’s FOR LIFE, Marvel’s LUKE CAGE and the acclaimed FX series ATLANTA (in the iconic Juneteenth episode). In film, Freeman can be seen in David Gutnik’s MATERNA, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She’s best known for her feature roles in Spike Lee’s INSIDE MAN opposite Denzel Washington and Chris Rock’s I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE.
ABOUT OLLY SHOLOTAN: Olly Sholotan is a Nigerian-American actor, singer, and music producer. He recently starred in the 2020 Venice International Film Festival selection, “Run Hide Fight” for Voltage opposite Thomas Jane, Radha Mitchell and Isabel May for writer/director Kyle Rankin. Sholotan is coming out next in the upcoming film “Evolution of Nate Gibson” penned by David Hudgin’s ( “Friday Night Lights” ) for director Nick Hamm (“Driven”) opposite Marcia Gay Harden, Josephine Langford, Diane Ladd and Jim Belushi. As a musician, Olly’s work has been featured in various short and feature length projects including “Run Hide Fight” as well as garnered hundreds of thousands of streams across music platforms on his own independent label, Lamintin Records. Sholotan trained out of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. A Houston, Texas Native, Olly is an alum of the Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts as well as a 2015 YoungArts finalist in theater.
ABOUT COCO JONES: Tennessee native Coco Jones has accomplished what most people would hope to achieve over their lifetime. Coco was first noticed at the age of nine, after she sang the National Anthem for the St. Louis Rams in front of 42,000 people. From that moment on, having gotten her first taste of the entertainment industry, she was off and running. She began writing and recording in the studio, as well as doing live performances. Her impressive social media following includes 2.3M fans on Facebook, 496K followers on Instagram, 462K followers on Twitter, and 14M+ collective views on YouTube. Coco has worked in all areas of entertainment. She appeared on various shows on the Disney Channel until landing the lead role of Roxanne Andrews on the #1 2012 Television Movie “Let It Shine.” In 2015 she took her talents to the Broadway stage, where Coco played “Jane” onstage in the BRONX TALE musical directed by Robert DeNiro, Jerry Zaks, Chazz Palminteri, with music by Alan Menken. After spending half of 2015 on the East Coast performing in theater, Coco decided to return to her first love, making movies and music in California. In 2016 Coco starred as Kimberly in the feature film:” Grandma’s House.” Followed by her 2017 appearance as a 60’s jazz singer in the Netflix feature film “Flock of Four.” You can currently see Coco in the Facebook Watch Original series “Five Points” Executive Produced by Kerry Washington. Coco’s amazing talent and work ethic led to her being featured on Essence.com in “35 Under 35: Young, Black, and Amazing,” which places her among the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Beyoncé. Coco has worked in the studio with many renounced producers including David Banner, Pop & Oak, Ronald “Jukebox” Jackson, and Kevin Randolph.
ABOUT AKIRA AKBAR: Akira Akbar is an American actress who can be seen starring in the Robert Rodriguez film “We Can Be Heroes,” which premiered on Netflix on January 1st, 2021. The film follows the children of superheroes who must team up and work together to save their parents from alien invaders. Akbar is no stranger to the big screen, as she portrayed ‘Monica Rambeau’ in the 2019 Walt Disney box office hit “Captain Marvel.” She recently wrapped on the Justin Baldoni produced 6 feet apart Wayfarer Studios/Wayfarer Entertainment experimental film “”Love You Anyway,” written and directed by Anna Matz. Akbar is from a diverse background of Latin, African-American, and Danish descent. She has had roles on a slew of hit television shows, including Freeform’s “Good Trouble” in the recurring role of ‘Kiara,’ Netflix’s “Family Reunion” in the recurring role of ‘Brooke’ and “This Is Us” as ‘Young Beth.’ Her credits also include a stint on “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds.”
ABOUT JIMMY AKINGBOLA: Jimmy Akingbola is currently filming a key role in new ITV crime thriller THE TOWER with Gemma Whelan (GAME OF THRONES), based on Post Mortem, the first in writer Kate London’s Metropolitan series of novels. He is much-loved for his leading role in KATE AND KOJI with Brenda Blethyn, for ITV and Britbox. He also returned for his ‘scene-stealer’ character of ‘Valentine’, exuberant younger brother to Idris Elba’s Walter in the third series of comedy IN THE LONG RUN, created by and also starring Elba for Sky One and Starz. Jimmy also took on a key role in EMMY nominated MOST DANGEROUS GAME for streaming platform Quibi alongside Liam Hemsworth and Christopher Waltz and he was also seen in TED LASSO for Apple TV+, the comedy series starring Jason Sudekis and his previous television includes BAFTA AwardWinning Comedy REV. (BBC2) which also starred Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander, ARROW (CW) in which he played the archvillain Baron Reiter, CHEAT (ITV). Additionally, Jimmy is a co-founder of TriForce Productions, as well as the founder of the TriForce Creative Network, which has multiple initiatives such as TriForce Short Film Festival, WriterSlam UK, and MonologueSlam UK that help to provide opportunities to discover diverse talent including actors, writers, directors and producers. Some of these initiatives have been supported by Spotlight, Equity, Channel 4. C21 Media, ITV, Sky and BBC.
ABOUT JORDAN L. JONES: Rising Star, JORDAN L. JONES started working as an actor immediately upon graduating from USC with a communications major in 2016. Out of the gate, Jordan booked a recurring role on NETFLIX’s marijuana centered comedy DISJOINTED starring Kathy Bates. He then booked a series regular opposite Lil Rel Howery as “Nat,” Rel’s hilarious younger brother, on the FOX sit-com REL. Guest starring roles include SNOWFALL, SHAMELESS, and NCIS: LOS ANGELES.
ABOUT SIMONE JOY JONES: Originally from Texas, Simone has been acting and singing her entire life. At the age of 10, she starred on Broadway in MIRACLE WORKER, based on Helen Keller’s life. Later on she got accepted into the Drama/Musical Theatre program at Carnegie Mellon where she received her BFA in June, 2021. In addition to acting, she is a phenomenal singer and recently released her debut album, DIVINE MISTAKES, now streaming on all platforms.
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