Where is the cast of ‘A Different World’ now? See the stars of the ‘Cosby Show’ spinoff over 30 years later

Lisa Bonet (Denise Huxtable)

As the lead of the first season of A Different World, Lisa Bonet plays the second-born wild child of Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby), who enrolls at a fictional HBCU in Virginia called Hillman. After one season, Bonet became pregnant with then-husband Lenny Kravitz’s baby and was let go from the show. Reportedly, some of the show’s other producers disrespected Bonet in front of the audience.

After leaving The Cosby Show and A Different World, Bonet divorced Kravitz, retreating from the spotlight and focusing on raising daughter Zoë. In 1998, she returned to acting, starring in the Will Smith blockbuster Enemy of the State (1998), then High Fidelity (2000). (Her daughter starred in the latter film’s 2020 reboot series.) In the 2010s, she appeared on The Red Road, Girls, and Ray Donovan.

In October 2017, Bonet married actor Jason Momoa after 12 years of dating and having two children: daughter Lola and son Nakoa-Wolf. After announcing their split in 2022, the couple finalized their divorce on July 9, 2024.

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.

Reflecting on the show’s legacy with costar Kadeem Hardison in a 2021 interview for Entertainment Tonight, Guy said: “I think the relevance of the show is that we were relevant. And the fact that the statements that we made back then are still needing to be heard. It’s also heartbreaking. I don’t think that we changed the world with the riots episode, but we did acknowledge how it affected all of us. See, when things were happening in the outside world, it was happening to us, personally.”

Guy later booked small parts on TV and did some voice work before landing recurring roles on Dead Like Me and K.C. Undercover. You might recognize her as the witchy Bennett matriarch Sheila on The Vampire Diaries or from her five-episode arc as Gemma Larson on Grey’s Anatomy, but she also landed a noteworthy role as Patricia on Amazon Prime Video’s Harlem.

Guy shares a daughter, Imani, with ex-husband Terrence Duckett.

Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Wayne)

Kadeem Hardison steps into the role of flirty math nerd Dwayne Wayne, known for his iconic flip-up sunglasses. Hardison and Guy were upgraded to lead roles from seasons 2 to 6, and he remains amazed by the show’s lasting impact as new viewers continue to discover and connect with it.

“It’s unbelievable that the age range of people who enjoy this show still, who have found it and relate to it. I knew we did something good after we got off,” Hardison told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024. “Once we finished, I saw the void. And the fact that you, and people of (any) age — younger and older — gravitate to it, it proves how well it was written, how well it was thought out, planned, and performed.”

Hardison had steady work in the years since, starring in budget action movies and booking guest spots on shows like Supernatural, House, and My Name Is Earl. He also starred on the Zendaya-led Disney Channel series K.C. Undercover, as well as appeared on Black Monday, Teenage Bounty Hunters, The Lincoln Lawyer, Moonhaven, Grown-ish, and The Chi.

The actor shares a daughter, Sophia, with his ex-wife, singer Chanté Moore.

Darryl M. Bell (Ron Johnson)

Darryl M. Bell portrays goofy musician and ROTC student Ron Johnson for all six seasons of the show. Looking back, Bell admires how the sitcom tackled real topics that managed to resonate across generations, all while keeping its humor intact.

“These are all things that we talked about and it illustrates that there are so many issues that remain evergreen for young people and people of all ages. That’s why the show continues to resonate,” he told PEOPLE in June 2024. “I think what I’m most proud of is, irrespective of how difficult some subject matter may have been, A Different World was always funny. We approached everything through the lens of humor.”

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.

He is married to another Cosby Show alum, Tempestt Bledsoe. The two appeared on the 2009 reality show Househusbands of Hollywood.

Charnele Brown (Kim Reese)

Charnele Brown comes on in season 2 to play an overachieving medical student and Whitley’s roommate, Kim.

Since A Different World, Brown appeared in a few small guest roles on Martin, My Wife and Kids, and Girlfriends. In addition to acting in movies like Dilemma (2022) and Lee Daniels’ The Reading (2023), she also produces and writes, including the TV film BKS, Best Kept Secret (2020).

Dawnn Lewis (Jaleesa Vinson)

On A Different World, Dawnn Lewis plays older than her counterparts as 25-year-old Jaleesa, who enrolls at Hillman after a failed marriage. In the five seasons she appears, she’s a bold, mature figure who helps guide her schoolmates and friends.

Reflecting on A Different World‘s impact on television, Lewis takes pride in how it shattered stereotypes of Black people by showcasing diversity within the community. “When A Different World came along, they were adding people of color, various shades of brown and financial elevation, social awareness or unawareness,” she told PEOPLE in February 2023. “We painted a palette where there was someone for everyone.”

Lewis left the show to play Robin Dumars on another TV series, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper. She was Melba Early in the 2006 film adaptation of Dreamgirls, and had small parts on One Tree Hill, Days of Our Lives, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Lewis has had regular voice work on Futurama, The Cleveland Show, and The Simpsons, among numerous other projects, and has made further TV appearances on The Boys, 9-1-1, The Rich and the Ruthless, and Young Rock.

She was married to former basketball player Johnny Newman from 2004 to 2006.

Cree Summer (Freddie Brooks)

Cree Summer — who depicts Freddie Brooks, Jaleesa’s roommate and the love interest of many a coed at Hillman — celebrates the show for its trailblazing and honest portrayal of diversity within the Black community.

“I think one of the sacred keys about A Different World is that we represented all these different facets of young Black life that we had never seen before,” Summer told Today in February 2024.

Since A Different World, Summer has had an illustrious voice career, voicing characters on cartoons like Batman Beyond, Rugrats, Danny Phantom, Puppy Dog Pals, The Patrick Star Show, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and dozens more. However, she still works on screen, landing appearances on shows like Better Things, Swarm, and Abbott Elementary. Apart from acting, Summer has also enjoyed some success as a musician — she opened multiple times on tour for her friend Lenny Kravitz, who also produced her first solo album.

Summer was previously married to movie producer Angelo Pullen, with whom she shares two daughters. They divorced in 2022.

Lou Myers (Vernon Gaines)

Lou Myers played a grumpy Vernon Gaines, owner and manager of the Pit, a hangout at Hillman. He makes fast friends with fellow military man Brad Taylor and over the six seasons, several cast members work for him at his restaurant at one point or another.

Myers booked small roles in rom-coms in the years after A Different World, counting Tin Cup (1996), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), and The Wedding Planner (2001) among his credits.

He died at age 77 in 2013.

Glynn Turman (Col. Brad Taylor)

From the original 1959 Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun to the soap opera Peyton Place to the 1984 horror Gremlins, Glynn Turman had plenty of credits to his name before strapping on the army uniform of Colonel Taylor — a math teacher at Hillman who was often dubbed Mr. War by his students. Yet to Turman, his A Different World character had some of the most impact.

“Here’s how influential Colonel Taylor was. I was driving down the street one day — in the hood, so to speak — and I saw two young men, teenagers, in a brawl,” he recalled to Vanity Fair in 2021. “Something told me to stop and go over, so I did. I stood there and said, ‘Look at me. You stop this. Both of you. Stop this.’ They looked and they said, ‘My God, it’s Colonel Taylor.’ And they stopped.”

Since his A Different World days, the veteran actor appeared as Mayor Clarence V. Royce on The Wire, in addition to recurring parts on How to Get Away With Murder, Queen Sugar, Fargo, and Women of the Movement. He played Jeremiah Kaan on House of Lies for four seasons; won an Emmy in 2008 for his guest spot on In Treatment; and had stints on Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. On the big screen, Turman had roles in The Way Back (2020), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), 80 for Brady (2023), and Rustin (2023).

Turman was previously married to Ula M. Walker from 1965 to 1971 and to Aretha Franklin (who sang the show’s theme song) from 1978 to 1984. He has been married to Jo-Ann Allen since 1992.

Sinbad (Coach Walter Oakes)

Oakes is the busiest man on Hillman’s campus, coaching the football, basketball, baseball, and track teams, and acting as co-director of the Gilbert Hall dorm. Sinbad serves up comic relief with Oakes’ colorful personality and outlandish outfits.

After Sinbad left the show in 1991, he started working on his family comedy, The Sinbad Show. He starred in ’90s comedies First Kid (1996), Jingle All the Way (1996), Good Burger (1997), and did stints on Resurrection Blvd. and Rel. In addition to making tons of cameos on TV, the comedian has filmed numerous stand-up specials for the likes of HBO.

In 2020, the comedian suffered an ischemic stroke and has been recovering ever since. He made his first public appearance virtually at the A Different World HBCU College Tour event in February 2024. “Man, that was so cool. A Different World going to Atlanta, going to Morehouse College and on campuses and getting a chance to be on Zoom and say something to the kids,” Sinbad said in an Instagram video he posted in March 2024. “It’s wild that the kids even know who I am. That’s beautiful.”

Sinbad shares two children with Meredith Fuller, whom he first married in 1985, divorced in 1992, and later remarried in 2002.