Ross Bagley first appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when he was seven, playing the five-year-old version of the youngest Banks child, Nicky. In the world of the sitcom, Little Nicky was born in Season 3 and played by various actors until Bagley took over for the rest of the show’s run—and had a blast. The former child actor told Hip Hop Uncensored in 2021 that he was always happy to be on set as a kid, especially during the Thanksgiving episodes, because he got to eat during filming. And while Bagley didn't stick with acting, he still has a great relationship with the series, as he’s hosted marathons of Fresh Prince on VH1 and appeared with the rest of the cast on a reunion special for HBO Max in 2020. Read on to find out more about why he left Hollywood behind and what he's been doing since playing Nicky.
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He retired from acting at a young age.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty ImagesThe same year that Bagley made his Fresh Prince debut, he memorably played Buckwheat in the 1994 feature adaptation of The Little Rascals. In 1996, he worked with Will Smith again, playing Dylan in the blockbuster Independence Day. The young actor also appeared in the movie Eye for an Eye and in episodes of Profiler and Providence. He did some voicework as well, playing Puppy in Babe and Hutu in an episode of The Wild Thornberrys. After taking a break for five years, he popped up in a 2005 episode of Judging Amy, which was his last credit until the 2017 horror movie Gnome Alone.
Bagley told Hip Hop Uncensored that the fame that came with Fresh Prince and The Little Rascals was too much for him, and that all he wanted to do was live a normal life and “get an education.” He noted that the entire point of getting into entertainment in the first place was to be able to pay for college one day.
He's never met his original TV mom.
Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty ImagesBy the time Bagley joined Fresh Prince, Aunt Viv was being played by Daphne Maxwell Reid. In his Hip-Hop Uncensored interview, the Nicky actor noted that he has never met the first actor to play the recast character, Janet Hubert. Hubert famously left the show after Season 3, leading to a war of words between her and Smith. After years of strife, the two reconciled during the reunion. But, because of how the special was filmed, Bagley didn't get the opportunity to talk with Hubert personally.
He said, however, that he’s always wanted to meet her and that he's grateful for her getting pregnant in real life, which is why the writers decided that the Bankses would have another child too.
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He works in real estate.
Shirlaine Forrest/WireImageAccording to Bagley’s LinkedIn profile, he went to California State University and now works as a real estate agent at Keller Williams in San Diego. The Los Angeles native is also the director of a talent and recruiting consulting agency called Pathways Consulting.
He dabbles as a DJ.
Bagley also DJs as one-half of the LA Faders. From their Instagram profile, it looks like the duo can be hired to DJ events, and they also continue to release new beats and songs.
He has a son who's the spitting image of him.
It appears that Bagley is currently single, though he does have a son named Reece who was born in 2014. He posts photos of himself and Reece on his personal Instagram page regularly, and it’s impossible not to notice that the younger Bagley looks exactly like his dad did when he was on Fresh Prince.
