Janet Hubert was born on January 13, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up on the South Side before moving to rural Chicago at the age of nine. She won a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City but did not complete her studies.

Janet Hubert began her career in the performing arts with a national tour of "Dancin'," and made her Broadway debut in 1981 in the ensemble of "The First," a musical about Jackie Robinson. She went on to create the role of Tantomile in the original Broadway production of "Cats" and also understudied Grizabella and Demeter.

She is best known for her role as the original Vivian Banks on the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" from 1990 to 1993. Her performance earned her a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991.

After leaving the show, she claimed that she was forced out due to contractual issues, while Will Smith, the show's star, alleged that she brought personal problems to work. Her character was subsequently recast with Daphne Maxwell Reid.

Janet Hubert has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies, including "Friends," "Gilmore Girls," "The Bernie Mac Show," and "Tyler Perry's House of Payne." She also appeared in the digital series "King Ester," for which she received her first Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2020.

In 2018, she joined the cast of the daytime soap opera "General Hospital" as Yvonne.

In her personal life, she has faced challenges, including a difficult marriage to James Whitten, which ended in 1994. She later married Larry Kraft in 2005 and has one son, Elijah Isaac Whitten, born in 1993.

She has been open about her battle with osteoporosis and has become an ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation.