Anthony Barboza/Getty Images
Playing Whitley Gilbert on NBC’s “A Different World,” Guy was getting big laughs and stealing scenes as the spoiled Southern belle. One scene she couldn’t steal, however, was the opening credits — because she wasn’t in it.
When Guy first auditioned for the show, the role of Whitley hadn’t been created yet. In fact, her first audition was for a different role entirely. “I went in for Jaleesa the first time, and came back with this character … Sydney,” Guy told TV One. “Obviously, what I’ve been doing isn’t getting me the part, so I’m going to go in there as somebody who’s different from my natural tendencies.” The third time ended up being the charm for Guy. Writer/producer Susan Fales-Hill told Vanity Fair that Guy’s third audition was the winner. “I can’t even remember anyone else who auditioned,” Fales-Hill said. “Because [Jasmine] just came in and owned it.”
Unfortunately, the opening credits had already been filmed by Guy’s third audition, featuring one of the best theme songs of the ’80s, but no Guy. In the same Vanity Fair interview, Kadeem Hardison said it was all a pleasant surprise. “Me, Dawnn [Lewis], Marisa [Tomei], and Lisa [Bonet] shot the credits one weekend … but there was no Whitley, and we didn’t even know there was going to be a Whitley,” Hardison said. “We got to work for the first table read on Monday, and Jasmine had just finished auditioning 20 minutes beforehand.”
Whitley was inspired by Guy’s third grade teacher and one of the show’s writers
Lynn Goldsmith/Getty Images
Audiences were instantly drawn to Jasmine Guy’s Whitley, and her on again-off again romance with Kadeem Hardison’s Dwayne Wayne, but creating the character took some inspiration from different places. For that sweet Southern accent, Guy thought back to someone from her past. “The Whitley accent was my 3rd grade teacher Ms. Pinkard,” Guy said in an interview with Bounce. “I started imitating her because we moved to Atlanta when I was eight, and that was my first teacher in the Atlanta public school system.” According to Guy, the accent was so foreign to her, she had no clue what her teacher and classmates were saying.
When it came to the character itself, writer/producer Susan Fales-Hill used her own experiences to flesh out Whitley and her background. On the “80s TV Ladies” podcast, Fales-Hill said she came from a wealthy family and dealt with some blowback while in college. “I was Whitley Gilbert’s alter ego, where she was my alter ego,” Fales-Hill remembered. “She said the things I might want to say but won’t, because I’m polite.” Fans of Jasmine Guy and Whitley will be happy to know that she will be returning for the “A Different World” reboot set to air later this year.