Will Smith played his own music to hype the cast of ‘Fresh Prince’
Will Smith knew which music would be the hit Fresh Prince Of Bel Air cast excited for live shows… his own.
During the Monday, March 4 episode of the “Pod meets world” podcast, Elisabeth Harnois opened up about her experience guest-starring The fresh prince in 1993. Although Harnois said the 55-year-old Smith was “a very sweet person,” she recalled one particular pre-show ritual that surprised her.
“One of my greatest memories of doing it Fair prince and working with Will Smith, he knew he was coming and was going to be a star,” the 44-year-old actress explained. “Before every show he would bring everyone into his dressing room and the way he got everyone pumped up for the show is that [would all be] crammed in like sardines and he was playing his music so loud and jumping up and down. And everyone had to jump up and down. That’s how they got a hype.”
The memory immediately led to follow-up questions from “Pod Meets World” cohosts. Danielle Vissel, Rider Strong And Will Friedelwho asked if Harnois meant for Smith – who has also had a successful rap career – to play “his own Will Smith songs” in the room, to which Harnois confirmed “yes.”
Let’s take a moment, just sit down and we’ll tell you what’s going on with the cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! Created by Andy Borowitz and Susan Borowitz, Fresh Prince aired for six seasons on NBC from 1990 to 1996. The hit sitcom followed Will (Will Smith), a troubled Philadelphia-born teen who was expelled […]
“That’s kind of brilliant,” Friedle admitted, while Strong joked that he was going to start the tradition himself.
The fresh prince ran on NBC from 1990 to 1996 and starred Smith in the untitled role of a teenager whose mother sends him to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air. Harnois appeared in a season 3 episode as Steffi, a young neighbor who tried to use the family’s swimming pool.
While the backstage moment with Smith was unexpected, Harnois admitted it wasn’t unique. She claimed while dating Matthew Laurens as a teenager, his older brother, Joey Laurensalso played his own music while driving around in the car.
“Joey Lawrence tried to make his own music. And we were all in this giant Escalade and he was playing his own music in the car,” she recalled of one specific instance. “And my boyfriend and I are sitting in the backseat, like… we just went on a few dates.”
Harnois noted that she has “friends who are musicians” and knows that the car can often be the best game for listening to music “when you’re mixing and finalizing.” [how a song] sounds,” but her experience with the Lawrence brothers “was not.”
Despite the awkwardness, Harnois insisted she has “no negative feelings” about either experience. “It was just really funny,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is a level of self-love and self-hype that I’ve never seen before.'”
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Harnois started acting at the age of 5, appearing in films such as Adventures in Wonderland And One magical Christmas before she got the role Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. In 1996 she appeared as Missy Robinson Boy meets world alongside Strong, Fishel and Friedle in the Season 3 episode, “The Last Temptation of Cory.”
“I remember being a little intimidated, like, ‘Oh, this cast is going to be so cool and be in their own little cliques and stuff,'” Harnois said of her nerves before appearing on the ABC sitcom. However, her fears were quickly silenced. “Kids can be mean and behave, kids can be bratty and mean, but you weren’t like that,” she said. “You were great.”
Boy Meets World became a family sitcom phenomenon during its seven seasons on ABC from 1993 to 2000. The show, created by Michael Jacobs, followed the life and life lessons of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) from home with parents Alan (William Russ ) and mother Amy (Betsy Randle) go to school with neighbor and eternal teacher George Feeny […]
Harnois worked with Friedle again in 1998 for the Disney film My date with the president’s daughter before it is thrown upon One Tree Hill the following year as Shelly, a ‘Clean Teen’ who promotes abstinence and the love interest Lee Norrisanother BMW alum. Since then, she has guest-starred on shows like Cold case, dirty, Without a trace And 90210before a costarring lands on it CSI: Crime scene investigation for four seasons from 2011 to 2015.
Smith, for his part, received a Golden Globe nomination for his work on Fair prince before he rose to fame with major movie blockbusters such as Independence Day, men in black, enemy of the state, I am a legend and more. In 2001, he was nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his film Aliand again in 2006 for The Pursuit of Happiness. Musically, Smith also released five studio albums DJ ‘Jazzy’ Jeff before pursuing a solo career and earning a total of four Grammy nominations for his rap performances.