The rapper who starred as the title character in the 1990s sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" was Will Smith. He played a fictionalized version of himself, a teenager from West Philadelphia sent to live with relatives in Bel-Air, Los Angeles.
The NBC sitcom premiered on September 10, 1990, and ran for six seasons through May 20, 1996. Smith was already known as the rapper Fresh Prince from the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, but the show's success made him a major television and film star. The series also featured James Avery, Alfonso Ribeiro, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, and Janet Hubert, later replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid as Aunt Vivian.
A common mix-up is treating "The Fresh Prince" as only a character name. In the original series, Smith used his own first name for the character, while "Fresh Prince" was his established rap stage identity. The show's famous theme song was performed by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, linking Smith's music career directly to the sitcom.