Handsome, athletic character lead of TV first gained prominence in 1984 in the popular Broadway musical "Tap Dance Kid" wherein he created the lead role of Willie. Ribeiro danced into pop culture history with Michael Jackson in a memorable Pepsi commercial. On TV he succeeded the departing Jason Bateman as the designated sidekick of poor little rich boy Ricky Schroder for the last few years of the long-running sitcom "Silver Spoons" (NBC, 1984-87). Ribeiro also appeared in several specials and TV-movies throughout the 1980s, evincing a special fondness for the annual "Circus of the Stars" extravaganzas in which untrained celebs perform big top antics. He has appeared in each such special since 1985.
Ribeiro landed a plum assignment in 1990 as the stuffy foil of Will Smith's inner-city rapper turned suburban wiseacre on the popular NBC sitcom, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". In addition to allowing him to hone his skills as both a straight man and comic buffoon, the show occasionally finds excuses for Ribeiro to demonstrate that he can still dance up a storm. He also has lent his celebrity to specials that celebrate his black/Latino heritage and benefit worthy charities. Ribeiro made his feature debut in a low-budget horror outing entitled "Ticks" (1994) which crawled direct-to-video. In 1996, he joined the cast of "In The House" (UPN), as a doctor who works at a sports clinic with series star rapper-turned-actor LL Cool J.