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- Lisa Bonet (Denise Huxtable) As the lead of the first season of A Different World, Lisa Bonet played the second-born wild child of Cliff Huxtable who enrolls at a fictional HBCU in Virginia called Hillman.
- Jasmine Guy (Whitley Gilbert) Whitley wasn't always going to be the main focus of A Different World; Jasmine Guy's character was a supporting cast member until season 2, when she was promoted to lead after Bonet left the show.
- Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Wayne) Kadeem Hardison played the flirty math nerd Dwayne Wayne, known for his flip-up sunglasses, who was also upgraded to lead the cast in season 2 along with Guy.
- Darryl M. Bell (Ron Johnson) Darryl M. Bell played goofy musician and ROTC student Ron Johnson for all six seasons of the show. After A Different World ended in 1993, Bell booked a lead role as Morris Clay on the sci-fi comedy series Homeboys in Outer Space; did a three-episode arc on Cosby in 1997; and appeared in two episodes of Insecure in 2018.
- Lisa Bonet
- Marisa Tomei
- Jasmine Guy
- Kadeem Hardison
- Darryl M. Bell
- Charnele Brown
- Dawnn Lewis
- Cree Summer
- Lou Myers
- Glynn Turman
Best known for her role as Denise Huxtable in The Cosby Show, which she reprised for a short time on this series, Bonet has continued to act in small roles throughout the last few decades. Most recently, she played a drug-addicted and troubled girl in Showtime series Ray Donovan. She is currently married to Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa.
Most notable for winning an Academy Award in the 1992 film My Cousin Vinny, Tomei starred as Denise’s and then Whitley’s white roommate, one of the only white students in a predominantly black school. RELATED: 10 Things The Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer Might Be Lying About Her career took off since the show ended, beginning with that Oscar nod...
A director, singer, and dancer in addition to actor, Guy won the NAACP Image Awards four years in a row for her role as the Southern belle who falls for the nerdy math whiz, Dwayne. Since the series ended, she has had a number of minor and major acting roles, most notably a recurring role on the late ‘90s series Touched by an Angel, in ‘00s series ...
Currently starring in Showtime drama Black Monday, Hardison’s role as the nerdy Dwayne Wayne with the flip-up glasses remains his most well-known one. But he has guest starred on a number of sitcoms since then, including Living Single, Everybody Hates Chris, and Parenthood. You might also recall him as the father of K.C., played by Zendaya, in Disn...
Playing Dwayne’s womanizing roommate and best friend, Bell is also known for his role as Big Brother X-Ray in School Daze, a 1988 film by Spike Lee. In 2009, he appeared in the reality TV series Househusbands of Hollywood with his long-time partner Tempestt Bledsoe, who played Vanessa on The Cosby Show. RELATED: Avengers Endgame: Every Major Fight ...
This actor, producer, fashion designer, and singer played Whitley’s roommate from the second season through to the end of the series. After that, she made a few guest appearances on series like Living Single, Martin, and Girlfriends. She was last seen in a TV movie calledCity Girls in 2007 and has a co-producing credit for a short called The Prankt...
Lewis not only appeared on the series from its beginning until the fifth season, but she also co-wrote the theme song. After playing Jaleesa, the mature student at the college, Lewis went on to appear in the sitcom Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper and a number of other TV series, as well as on stage in performances like Sister Act the Musical. You can hear ...
While she’s known mainly for playing Freddie the student activist who pined for Dwayne, she was also notably the original voice of Penny in the 1983 cartoon Inspector Gadget. RELATED: Jessica Jones: 10 Things That Need to Happen Before Season 3 Ends Along with lots of other voice work – a total of 101 animated characters from 1983 to 2006 – she has...
First appearing in the second season, Mr. Gaines, as the students called him, was the long-time owner and manager of the Hillman College restaurant The Pit. Sadly, Myers passed away in 2013 at the age of 77. But he did continue his acting career after the series ending, appearing in small roles in a number of movies, including The Wedding Planner i...
Starting off as a recurring character, Colonel Taylor moved into a main role as a math professor at the school, and friend and former war buddy of Vernon. He continued his successful acting career after the show ended, appearing in popular series like The Wire, House of Lies, Suits, and, most recently, How to Get Away With Murder. RELATED: 10 Dark ...
- Christine Persaud
- Lisa Bonet (Denise Huxtable) Bonet, an alum of the shows Life on Mars and The Red Road, last acted on TV in a 2016 arc as Marisol Campos on Ray Donovan.
- Jasmine Guy (Whitley Gilbert) Guy appeared in more than a dozen episodes of The Vampire Diaries, playing Sheila “Grams” Bennett on the fantasy drama. Since then, she has recurred on The Quad, Grey’s Anatomy (alongside Allen), and Harlem.
- Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Wayne) Hardison played Zendaya’s onscreen dad on the 2015–2018 comedy series K.C. Undercover. More recently, he starred on the teen comedy-drama Teenage Bounty Hunters and the sci-fi series Moonhaven.
- Darryl M. Bell (Ron Johnson) Bell popped on Insecure in 2018, playing an actor in the show-within-a-show Kev’yn. These days, he’s running an independent production company and working as a professional speaker, his website touts.
- Contributing Writer
- ‘A Different World’ sprang from ‘The Cosby Show’ The show’s creators didn’t initially intend for A Different World to be a direct spinoff of The Cosby Show.
- Lisa Bonet reprised her role as Denise Huxtable in ‘A Different World’ A Different World was supposed to give Bonet’s character a way to go to college without completely disappearing from The Cosby Show.
- Kadeem Hardison played the lovesick Dwayne Wayne. The now-57-year-old Kadeem Hardison played Dwayne Wayne, a math nerd desperate to find love. In the first season, he set his sights on Denise, but after she left, he had a multi-season flirtation with Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy), eventually leading them down the aisle to marital bliss.
- Jasmine Guy portrayed the spoiled and sassy Whitley Gilbert. Jasmine Guy played the ultimate spoiled rich girl Whitley Gilbert for all six seasons of the show.
Jan 30, 2024 · The A Different World cast delved into subjects like race, class and gender, tackling them head-on in a way that was both humorous and thought-provoking. The characters faced real-world...
Sep 26, 2022 · 'A Different World' Turns 35: See The Cast Then And Now. The thought-provoking sitcom highlighted the importance of HBCUs and continues to be praised for its positive portrayal of Black men...
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Sep 25, 2019 · Geoffrey Owens. Geoffrey recently found himself back in the spotlight after a photo of him working at Trader Joes surfaced online in an attempt to slander him. Soon after he appeared on Good Morning America to defend his job at the popular grocery store and is now slated to star in a Tyler Perry Production and an upcoming episode of CSI.
