Janet Hubert Looks Back at Her Most Iconic Roles
Welcome to Look Back At It, a monthly column where some of the most iconic Black actresses in Hollywood reminisce and reflect on the roles that made them stars. For this month’s installment, Janet Hubert breaks down her career—from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Bernie Mac Show to her most recent Netflix film, The Perfect Find.
“I don’t think of myself as an icon,” says Janet Hubert when we speak on a sunny Friday afternoon. “When I think of that word, I think of Diana Ross, Dorothy Dandridge, and Cicely Tyson. I think of people who have affected change in our history and in our society. So, I don’t consider myself one.”
Despite the fact that Hubert is best known for portraying one of the most iconic mothers in television history, she remains humble. From 1990 to 1993, Hubert played Vivian Banks, the matriarch at the center of the ’90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show starred Will Smith as the lead, along with Alfonso Ribeiro, Tatyana Ali, and the late James Avery. When Hubert landed the role, she was shocked. “I’m not what people think of when they think of an upscale Black woman,” she notes. “In those times, light-skinned Black women were the only ones considered upscale.” Hubert was breaking new ground.
But her time on the show quickly came to an end after season 3 when she suddenly left due to professional and personal reasons. Daphne Maxwell Reid was cast as her replacement.
Once she left Fresh Prince, Hubert did stints on shows like The Jamie Foxx Show, Gilmore Girls, All My Children, and Friends. And, over the years, her film work has included New Eden, Single Black Female, Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, and, most recently, Netflix’s The Perfect Find. She even earned her first Emmy nomination for King Ester, a YouTube web series produced by Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media. But Hubert doesn’t revel in her accolades.
“I don’t believe in awards,” she says. “If you need a statue to determine who you are, then you got a real problem.” When it comes to speaking about her journey and her career, she doesn’t mince words. “I’m known for speaking very clearly and I take no prisoners. ’Cause I ain’t got nothing to lose.”
Below, Hubert takes us through her most iconic roles to share her fondest memories from the screen—acting with Lisa Bonet, befriending the late comedian Bernie Mac on set, and auditioning for the role of Aunt Viv.
Vivian Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-1993)
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“When I auditioned for The Fresh Prince, I didn’t expect anything to happen because I was still in the theater. I didn’t want to go and do television. But I put myself on tape and then my agent said that they wanted to fly me out. And when I got there, the entire network was in the room. When I did my reading, I didn’t try to look like anybody’s mama. I had on a miniskirt and I was in major dancer mode. I was serving legs and calves and I didn’t give two shits. I just went in to have a good ass time. And I got it. They said, ‘It wasn’t what you did with the lines, it’s what you did in between the lines that got you this job.’ [My time on] The Fresh Prince was good. It was really something.”
Ashtarte in New Eden (1994)
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“This was a role that I got six months after having my child and it was also after they let me go [from The Fresh Prince]. Ashtarte was a queen of the desert. The movie starred Stephen Baldwin, one of the least-known Baldwins, and Lisa Bonet. We shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I remember my really big hair. I actually shaved it off after we finished filming. And I remember wearing Whitney Houston’s bustier from The Bodyguard [in a scene]. And I got to ride a horse, which I loved. This was so much fun. I was just so happy to have a job.”
Leora in The Bernie Mac Show (2003-2004)
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“There was no audition for this. Bernie Mac called and said that Kellita [Smith] wanted me to play her mama. This was one of the best shows I’ve worked on. This was one of the many jobs that I was trying to find in between not being able to work. I worked for the Osteoporosis Foundation, I went to Capitol Hill, and then I worked with Bernie at the Sarcoidosis Foundation, and sarcoidosis is what he passed away from. So to be able to do that and to come on that show was so much fun. Bernie and I developed a real friendship. And, I have to say, The Bernie Mac Show had some of the most beautiful lighting for dark-skinned people I’ve ever been on. It was a joy.”
Yvonne in General Hospital (2018-2020)
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“People look down on soap operas, but they need to shut the hell up because some of the hardest work you will ever do is a soap opera. It’s the closest thing to the theater that there is. You gotta serve it. You gotta give it. You only got a couple of takes. But it was wonderful for them to ask me [to be on this show]. I was absolutely honored. They give you a chance to really hone your acting chops.”
Mignon in King Ester (2019)
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“This role was for the love of the trans and queer community. The gentleman who wrote it, Dui Jarrod, had been asking to work with me for years. And there was no money in it. It was a job of love. We shot it Guerrilla-style in the New Orleans summer heat with no air conditioning, no electricity, no real makeup, no hair, no nothing. And it was wonderful. I have to thank Issa Rae who put it together on YouTube [via Hoorae, her media company]. I applaud her. I adore her. You have to lend your voice to these kinds of projects. There are too many of us who are big ass names who won’t do nothing but big ass jobs. You gotta lend your name to some of these productions by young up-and-coming producers and directors and screenwriters. I was proud to do it.”
Herself in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Special (2020)
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“I wanted closure. [The reunion special] was the most poignant and most incredible time. It was the best thing that could have ever happened. It restored a friendship [with Will Smith] and it restored my faith in people. If I die tomorrow, my name has been cleared. At the end of the day, that’s all you got on your tombstone. So I thank Will profusely and I’m happy to have him back in my life. And Karyn [Parsons, who played Hilary]. Everybody’s not back in my life, but I’m happy. You know, people think we were a real family. We were not. It was a damn TV show, people. I got my own family. [Laughs] But I really never realized how iconic this role would become.”
Monica in The Perfect Find (2023)
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“I was overjoyed to work with Gabrielle [Union]. She was gracious and kind and loving and warm. I shot all of my scenes in a day and the set was two blocks away from me. I loved it. And Numa [Perrier] is a great director. I’m a fan. The movie is wonderful and funny as hell.”
Juliana Ukiomogbe is the Assistant Editor at ELLE. Her work has previously appeared in Interview, i-D, Teen Vogue, Nylon, and more.
