Karyn Parsons

In 2019, Parsons published her first middle-grade novel, How High the Moon, which was loosely inspired by stories of her mother's childhood in the Jim Crow South.

Parsons was born in Los Angeles, California. In an interview for Essence in 2008, she described her parentage as biracial. Her mother, Louise Parsons, is an African American from Charleston, South Carolina and her father, Kenneth B. Parsons, is of Welsh descent and from Butte, Montana. She attended Santa Monica High School.

Parsons married The Young and the Restless actor Randy Brooks in 1987; they divorced in 1990. Parsons married director Alexandre Rockwell in 2003. Together they have a daughter, Lana (born June 8, 2003), and a son, Nico (born April 11, 2007).

Parsons starred as Hilary Banks on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired on NBC from 1990 to 1996. She co-created, co-produced, co-wrote, and co-starred on the Fox sitcom Lush Life in 1996, which was later canceled after four episodes. In 2001, she starred in the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series The Job with Denis Leary. Besides television, Parsons has starred in several films, particularly in comedies such as Late Nights (1992), Major Payne (1995), and The Ladies Man (2000). Parsons is the creator of Sweet Blackberry, a line of animated films about unsung black heroes. The first in the series is about Henry "Box" Brown, a slave who mailed himself to freedom.

Karyn Parsons (born October 8, 1966) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her role as Hilary Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from 1990 to 1996. Parsons also starred in the 1995 film Major Payne opposite Damon Wayans.