My name being Lena, and me having a father that was sort of in and out of my life and had demons himself, it was such a reflection. Clockwise from bottom left: NBC/Everett Collection; Courtesy of Yvette-Lee Bowser; NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images; Gene Trindl/NBC/ Everett Collection. Other characters, such as jocular dorm director Walter Oakes (Sinbad) and grumpy on-campus restaurant owner Vernon Gaines (Lou Myers), helped round out the picture of college life. [The writers] were talking about me playing a dean and I was like, You know what? Summer: As time went on, like any new character, Freddie just started to develop and evolve. Ill be you, and you be me. And then it clicked. Bowser: There was a real opportunity between seasons one and two to do the show that we knew A Different World needed to be. Allen: Patti LaBelle and I are friends from my early dance days in New York. Marisa Tomei followed up As the World Turns in 1986 with a role on the sitcom A Different World as Maggie Lauten during the first season. When Bonets character Denise Huxtable left Brooklyn to head to college at Hillman, she introduced viewers to the fictional HBCU and a slew of new faces. 5. Lives in a dorm. She said, You guys are driving onto this lot and walking around like you own the place. Hardison: The number one episode for me is easily Cats in the Cradle, when Dwayne and Ron go to a football game and these white dudes spray-painted the N-word on Rons car. We got to work for the first table read on Monday, and Jasmine had just finished auditioning 20 minutes beforehand. And it was like, yes, I have a degree from Stanford, but Im here to do whatever it takes to be a part of the creative process, to see how it works, to pitch in. Gender Female Occupation Actress Years active 1984-present Website/URL: Twitter page Character information Because it was like, if you knew what it meant, then you were part of the cool kids. And I liked that math was his thing because it was my thing until they put letters in it. He didnt have a drivers license, so I would have to take him in to work every dayto the job I auditioned for and didnt get. Originally, this was a Spin-Off of The Cosby Show: Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) goes to college. You need to really honor that.. So [the older cast members] took it upon ourselves to [say] buy a house, investwe tried to plant those kinds of seeds. (Because minors could only work a limited number of hours, she wasnt allowed to attend all of the rehearsals.) Clockwise from bottom left: Jasmine Guyhere with Darryl Bell and Kadeem Hardisonstarred as Whitley Gilbert following Lisa Bonets departure; from left to right, Guy, Bell, and Debbie Allen in makeup; left to right, Bonet, Dawnn Lewis, and Marisa Tomei on set in the first season; Hardison, Guy, and Cree Summer behind the scenes; Bonet wraps Lewis in a hug. Bonet (who did not respond to inquiries for this story) married musician Lenny Kravitz on her 20th birthday, November 16, 1987, and announced her pregnancy the following May. For us to go off the air so unceremoniously, I dont know. Tomei instructed host Andy Cohen that she was once fired from the display- however there were no laborious emotions. Yvette Lee Bowser met Gina Prince-Bythewood and brought her in to become an [apprentice]. A Different Worlds enduring impact far outweighs the disappointment. Diahann Carroll was my mothers best friend. Waithe: An episode that I dont think gets talked about enough is when [Jada Pinkett Smiths character] Lenas father comes back into her life. Allen: We birthed Jenifer Lewis on A Different World. Though Tomei's time playing herself on Seinfeld would prove to be her most memorable sitcom appearance, it was far from her only opportunity to shine in a multi-cam environment.One of her earliest acting gigs was in the Cosby Show spinoff series A Different World, which was originally conceptualized as a series about Denise Huxtable's time at the fictional Hillman College where Tomei . The show was so important, and I didnt want to see things go the way they do with many shows and casts. One of those projects was A Different World, the late-'80s Cosby Show spinoff that helped launch her career. Neither Hardison or Guy thought the Graduate*esque story was a good idea. Fales-Hill: I was able to share something that a lot of people didnt know, which is that there were Black people in America who owned slaves, particularly in Louisiana. But unlike his namesake show, Cosby wasnt a key player on A Different World, and its orbit of the fictional Hillman College, an HBCU in Virginia, evades any shadow in memory, as enjoyable as ever in Amazon Prime syndication. Fast-forward to when I needed a showrunner for Twenties, its Susan Fales-Hill. by Anonymous reply 4 November 8, 2020 1:06 AM When Debbie Allen took over as producer she had Tomei fired. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. In the episode, Rudy Huxtable visits Denise at Hillman and becomes enamored with Whitley. Then it happened over and over. And then slowly but surely, we were having less fun and more dates, and all the great story lines were going to the other characters. This needs to be Dwayne shows up. On the other hand, it was nice to go out on a high and not feel like youre a poor imitation of what you once were. Bang (2012) and Empire (2015). We were seeing ourselves portrayed in a positive way, but also in a very thoughtful human way, and dealing with a lot of trauma that we were dealing with in our real lives. Guy: I couldnt do a lot of things I did on that show without Charlie [Charnele Brown, who played Kimberly Reese], Cree, Kadeem, and Mary Alice [Lettie Bostic]. Bonet subsequently left A Different World but rejoined The Cosby Show after the birth of her daughter, Zo. Bowser: Sometimes when I get interviewed people ask me, Well, how do you write or create such iconic shows or iconic characters? And the truth is, you dont create iconic shows or iconic television or iconic characters. Lewis: The supporting actors that came through our show were just insane. I wanted to try and put my own show together. Something about it being on at 8:30 p.m. and everybody in the world watching, it messed with my stomach. Why did Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei leave A Different World? Kadeem went in first and you could hear the laughing outside in the hallway while the rest of us were waiting. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are in talks to star in a slasher sequel that will reportedly be a passing of the torch from one generation to the next. We just hadnt seen that. I can hardly believe that its really happening. While Hardison wasnt a fan of Dwaynes colorful style, early on the wardrobe department gave him free rein to order sneakers from Nike, and he didnt push back on how they styled him from the ankle up. . In a previous interview, Kadeem Hardison opened up about Lisa's exit from the show, which he said he was not happy about. Right now, Im organizing myself for my big day. He said it happened when the show was on a summer hiatus. Marisa played Marcy Thompson on 12 episodes of "As the World Turns" from 1984 to 1985, then appeared in the 1986 film "Playing for Keeps" and starred as Maggie Lauten on 22 episodes of "A. He was a good guy. In 2009, Marisa Tomei explained part of her reasoning for never tying the knot to Manhattan Magazine (via Glamour Magazine UK). Originally, the show was about three women. I had watched the show, and I remember being in North Richmond, California, in my grandmamas living room with the plastic over the carpet, and [my grandmother] said, Canadamy moms family calls me Canadayou should be on that show.. It was her first time on a plane and everything. When she came to do the guest episode, it was Liz Narvaez, the actress who played Vanessas best friend, she was the one that I felt was really cute. Susan Fales-Hill (writer and producer): I cant even remember anyone else who auditioned because [Jasmine] just came in and owned it. Not long after the show first aired, a litany of guest stars began appearingsome of whom were already established, and others who were relatively unknown at the time and have since become famous actors and musicians. The pilot was picked up and filming began in early 1987 with George Crosby as producer. Wrestler and In the Bedroom, her turn as Aunt May in Marvel's Spider-Man films, as well as TV performances in As the World Turns and A Different World, Marisa Tomei has had a long and critically-acclaimed acting career. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. She is currently 56 years old. I auditioned and then I got a call from Darryl. The actress rarely gets lead roles, but even the episodes with her participation become mini-masterpieces of cinema. Hardison: When I found out that they were going to put Dwayne and Whitley together, I was shockedbut I liked it because I knew what a beast [Jasmine] was at work. The sitcom originally starred Lisa Bonet, already known to the world as Denise Huxtable. Waithe: When I first joined Instagram, I didnt really want to use my name. Fales-Hill: We didnt have a character who was from the hood, and wanted to address that experience. What do you mean? And then I thought about it and I was like, Well, Im not messing with nobody [and] shes my bestie, why not? And then it just went on and on. During the run-up to the 1993 Oscars ceremony, Tomei was in the running for an award thanks to her critically acclaimed performance in My Cousin . Allen wanted to keep the dynamic of having a white girl in a black college, but after one season, Tomei's character disappeared too. When the show wrapped, Hardison was given one of the two pairs of Dwaynes glasses from the set. So it wasnt us versus them, it was us together. Stop. She was not on my radar, and clearly, I was not going to her radar at the time. . So I had my competition sleeping on my couch, and the two of us drove to NBC together. It wasnt like she was wearing YSL or Gucci. It was all because of her popularity that Mr. Cosby had the idea to do this spinoff. I mean, I was fan kind of thrilled. View this post on Instagram. She started crying and shaking and we were like, All right, honey, dont die on us. But she was like, You just dont understandIm a doctor now, Im married to a lawyer. Whitley reminded me of a lot of the women that I grew up with in Cincinnati and in Jack and Jill, and women who attended Hampton. He decided to take Bonet off the show and later had her return to The Cosby Show. When youre a costume designer, when youre doing makeup and hair, youre part of creating this character. However, the most successful role in her early career was the picture of Mona Lisa Vito in the comedy film "My Cousin Vinny" (1992) directed by . Tomei puts a lot of focus into cleansing and starts each morning with hot water and lemon instead of that cup of java that most people reach for. Her sun sign is Sagittarius. There was an episode where the youngsters moved into a spot where Billy Dee Williams was our landlord, and that was serving as an in-season pilot, which I thought would have been a really, really dope show. Then Cree was like, I know where you need to live, and she brought me up to Topanga Canyon. Six months later she saw the episode and it gave her the language to understand what had happened to her. In a move he now regretsand one he admits was influenced by wanting to be known not just as Dwayne Wayne but as an actorhe donated them to a charity auction; what charity, he cant recall. Hardison: All of a sudden [the show] got real, then it became amazing. They were like, Thats a little too much attention on you, and its not your show.. Its an adjustment, and one that I wasnt really seeking. But Joanne Curley Kerner, she was one of our producers, and she has the other pair. Guy: I think I was walking into The Pit, and he just kept eating his ice cream. Administratively, a lot of barriers came down. I made that choice. Today, I begin my first real job as an intern writer with a new NBC sitcom. All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. That was phenomenal. Tomei found her way into the Cosby Show spinoff, A Different World, playing Lisa Bonet's eccentric roommate, and then moved on to act in movies shortly thereafter. They asked me if Id done stand-up for a studio audience before and I said, Yes, for Magnum, P.I. They said, Magnum, P.I. His grand gesture of interrupting the wedding stayed in the script, though. I went to Howard University, and it was everything in my growth and my self-discovery from young teenager to woman. Wheres the love? That little moment at the very end where Freddie says to Dwayne, Thank you for being my friendsomething about that just fucking tears me up. And that was a wonderful thing about A Different Worlda lot of the platonic friendships were so healthy. I felt a responsibility to do that. Marisa Tomei played a white character going to an HBCU on A Different World r2. I got the show and had to figure out being in L.A., because I was in New York at the time. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the season in which Ceci began working as A Different World's lead costume designer. It was one of those moments where we knew we really hit the mother lode, because it ran so deep. Stop it right now. Bell: Kadeem got the job but hes a New Yorker, so he [came] to L.A. and moved in with me. Bell: I met Tempestt four or five times before she ever remembered meeting me once. Today, Hillman Grad is the name of her production company. I said, I cant cheat them. I wanted to do movies. A First Look at Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon 15 Summer Movies Worth Returning to Theaters For Why Evan Peters Needed a Hug After His Big Mare of Easttown Scene Shadow and Bone Creators Break Down Those Big Book Changes The Particular Bravery of Elliot Pages Oprah Interview Inside the Collapse of the Golden Globes Watch Justin Theroux Break Down His Career For the Love of Real Housewives: An Obsession That Never Quits From the Archive: The Skys the Limit for Leonardo DiCaprio Not a subscriber? Lewis, Summer, Hardison, Guy, and Brown gather in a Radford Studios parking lot. Allen: If theres an episode that was remarkable, it was the AIDS episode. Hardison: I didnt watch the show when it was on air. A lot of the kids, they took that advice. Is he going to make it? I got all the way to the last one and hit it. I got the callback for A Different World so I had to leave my mom in London; the cast took care of her. Allen: Jada Pinkett auditioned for the young girl with AIDS in season 4. In the shows second season, Ceci was tapped as the lead costume designer. During one scene in particular, he was struggling. It was never the same after that. Turman: I know what comes with being young and famous and rich. The network thought that was part of his image and they were very reluctant to change it. She was someone that I had known from New York. When youre writing for TV, there are a lot of moments where you say, What am I doing with my life? They were like, Okay, my man, do you want to shorten that up?, Bowser: It wasnt the best line reading, but we loved him and were like, Weve got to find something for Darryl to do.. I was fascinated. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), why did marisa tomei leave a different world . So when we decided we wanted to meet Whitleys mother and we knew we wanted Diahann [to play her], I literally drove up to her house in Beverly Hills and said, You need to come do this show. And Lena Horne, similarly, Id known her all my life. 9. Youve read the scripts, you understand the character dynamics. Devine: One day I came to work and my whole apartment was gone. Her height is 1.64 m tall, and her weight is 55 kg. It frees you up as an actor when someone is that loose with it. Marisa Tomei: 'I'm a leading actress caught in a supporting actress vortex' Michael Hogan A quarter of a century after winning an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny, the actor is causing a stir as. Hardison introduced himself to everyone in the room, one by one, then recited each persons name back to them in reverse order. Waithe: Theres definitely talk about We only want to see happy Black people or We dont want to see trauma in our entertainment, but the truth is I got both with A Different World, and I think I turned out okay. A Different World definitely should have been more lauded and acknowledged for its popularity and its contribution to society, but we were making a show for the people, not for the accolades. By the time season five came, I think there were 14 people that were considered principals. And he said, Thats a messed up question to ask you. I said, Yeah, it is. Glynn Turman (Colonel Taylor): I was on the road with a play called Im Not Rappaport. Then they got into a fight with them and they all got thrown into jail together. Why did Marisa Tomei leave A Different World? Guy: I remember doing The Dennis Miller Show and he asked, How does it feel being between the number one show and the number three show, Cosby and Cheers? And I kind of, not stuttered, but I was trying to regroup. If you recall, the now 57-year-old actress appeared in a couple of episodes in season seven of the long-running series in 1996 . Emil Wilbekin (journalist and founder of Native Son, a collective and empowerment platform for Black gay/queer men): A Different World launched when I was a sophomore at Hampton University. Davidson, 28, co-wrote the screenplay with director Judd Apatow and Dave Sirus. Because I had a character that didnt give a fuck about what other people thought, I really got to explore. Bell: [The cast] was in Detroit on our way to do an interview at a radio station, and this woman saw us in the street and lost it. I wouldnt have been able to move forward, quite frankly. Clockwise from left: Courtesy of Darryl Bell; CARSEY-WERNER CO./NBC/ ALAMY; Everett Collection; NNC/Everett Collection. In a way, Denise's personality worked well as . Youre not together anymore [but] you still have to go to work and be on set. Hes really cool, but hes really corny; hes so confident, but hes really insecure. I was devastated. 5 Reasons Marisa Tomei Is The Best Aunt May (& 5 Why It'll Always Be Rosemary Harris) Marisa Tomei plays Peter's aunt May who is also beginning a romance. Several students asked us, Why dont we see anybody whos from a mixed marriage on your show? Im from a mixed marriage myself, but I didnt think people wanted to talk about that or see it. She said I can have them, because I want to send them to the National Museum of African American History in D.C. Thats where they should be. As the new showrunner for A Different World, she was excited about making it part of Denises storyline. Sinbad: I was doing a tour with Luther Vandross and Anita Baker, I was hosting Showtime at the Apollo, and I was doing A Different World. Bell: Lisa was on The Cosby Show, so she was accustomed to being in the atmosphere of a juggernaut. . We cast her as somebodys girlfriend and it was a one-shot deal. She was so effusive and welcoming. Susan Fales-Hill hired Yvette Lee Bowser, who would then go on to create Living Single. I got the show and had to figure out being in L.A., because I was in New York at the time. Hardison: I loved that Dwyane was smart and I love that he was from Brooklyn. Walter and Jaleesa were supposed to get married, but the two decided against it at the altar. I just didnt know it was a thing. Its remarkable to know that you can still have that kind of effect on someone 30-plus years after the fact. By 1987, Marisa Tomei was already known to daytime television fans, but she was soon to become known to primetime TV fans, as well, when she landed the role of Maggie on "The Cosby Show" spin-off, "A Different World." Maggie was originally supposed to be played by another soap alum, Meg Ryan, but plans were scrapped at the last minute and Tomei got the role, which had been scaled back at this . She only had one line in the entire film. We unpack why she chose not to uphold societal standards and her main priority in life. 20 Things You Never Knew About Marisa Tomei Anna Fletcher 2021-11-24T14:41:03+00:00. . Goes to class. We worked together, we hung out together, we talked about life together. While they didnt plan it, the two both landed at Hangin With Mr. Cooper. Patrick Cassidy would always be there signing autographs and talking to people, and I was like, Ooh, Im so glad thats not me. It did become me, over the years since A Different World, but I was mostly concerned with the work. From 2008 to 2012, she was in a. And then, I think it was Debbie and Joe who said, This needs to be The Graduate. Yvette Lee Bowser went on to show run Dear White People, the series, which was the first movie Id ever produced. He would be in my room every night playing video games. Hardison: We were friends at first. And we were doing that while we were writing the show. Despite consistently high ratingsoften landing at number two behind The Cosby Show *and sometimes surpassing it for number one*A Different World was never nominated for a Golden Globe. Hardison: I thought, This thing might run six or eight weeks, then theyll cancel it and then I can go on to being a movie star, which is what I wanted to be. 'A Different World': Marisa Tomei Was Fired Because Executive Opposed Inter-Racial Dating Story Fred Topel 12/2/2022 Like Comments | 1 Oscar winner Marisa Tomei got her start on A. In 1987, she was featured in Afterschool Special, Leg Work, and A Different World. The movie star, who appears in the recently released "Spider-Man: No Way Home," visits the Morbid Anatomy Library and discusses arachnoid folklore, death doulas, and why she's trying to make . Having initially bonded over a love of motorcycles, Hardison and Summer dated throughout much of the series. Hardison: That was stupid. I think she had a conversation with Mr. Cosby, and then he had conversations with [producers] Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, and Caryn Mandabach. Tisha Campbell played the young girl who had been infected with AIDS, which was also the first role on the show Jada Pinkett auditioned for. I got Whoopi Goldberg to play a teacher[and] I knew she was going to win the Academy Award that year for Ghostand she was amazing. In the 34 years since its debut, A Different World has become one of televisions most impactful shows, inspiring everything from dissertations and lectures to Halloween costumes and social media fan accountsall while influencing countless young people to attend college, specifically HBCUs. You dont know whats happening, so it just makes you a better actor because your job is to react. We did stories about racism, we did stories about the L.A. riotswe were one of the first shows to address AIDS. Few sitcoms were tackling such issues at the time, including The Cosby Show, which largely omitted social and political themes from its story lines. Marisa Tomei is known for her series As the World Turns and. So I would go to the movies on Thursday night; Id just be anywhere where I couldnt be reached. In 1987, one of televisions most influential shows was born. She didnt want to put on a suit, she didnt want to comb her hair. Fans remember the show as much for its cultural relevance as they do for its laugh-out-loud comedy and talented cast. There are so many problems in the world and Im not solving them. But moments like that made you realize theres something that you can do. In front of a camera?