Shore leave

WESTPORT -- When Karyn Parsons breaks out in a laugh that makes her hair shake, you get a glimpse of Hilary Banks , the bratty Paris Hilton-like character who was Will Smith's cousin on the '90s NBC series ``The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." But when Parsons begins talking about her toddler and her other baby -- her new company, Sweet Blackberry, which produces children's DVDs -- Hilary quickly disappears, and the mother and entrepreneur emerge.

Her acting career on hold while she raises her 3-year-old daughter, Lana, Parsons has moved not far from Horseneck Beach in Westport to start a family and focus on her new role: writing and producing animated DVDs that introduce children to lesser-known black historical figures. The first one, ``The Journey of Henry Box Brown," was featured this summer at the African American Film Festival on Martha's Vineyard and at film festivals in Dallas and Atlanta. It tells the story of a slave who mailed himself in a 3-by-2-by-2-foot crate from his Virginia plantation to freedom in Philadelphia in 1848. Now she's working on her second DVD, ``Garrett's Gift," about Garrett Morgan, the scientist who invented the traffic signal and the gas mask. She plans to unveil that DVD in February for Black History Month.

Parsons, who grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., hadn't heard of some of these figures herself until she was an adult. She hopes that introducing them to children, including Lana, may give them a better understanding of unsung heroes in American history.

``I started thinking about my responsibility as a parent and her teachers teaching history," says Parsons, sitting back in a chair at an outdoor table at the Back Eddy, a popular restaurant near Horseneck Beach. ``I'd like these stories to teach children that you can overcome any obstacle, any objective or hurdle that you come up against."

Parsons splits her time between New York's East Village and Westport, a small coastal town 60 miles south of Boston where her husband's family lives on the same quiet and picturesque property but in a separate house . Parsons's parents also live in town, having moved here to be closer to their granddaughter.

``It's a tranquil spot," Parsons says, looking out at her the backyard forest on her property, where dragonflies buzz and crickets chirp in the buttery afternoon fall light. ``It's so unspoiled. It's magical."

When she's not working on Sweet Blackberry, she's chasing Lana around, swimming at Horseneck, or bike riding with her husband, Alexandre Rockwell , an independent filmmaker. They've become regulars at the Back Eddy, where the owner and staff know her by name.

``I've always enjoyed coming here," she says as sailboats lazily bob in the distance behind her. ``Having Lana makes it more appealing. I love the city, but you need the balance. For her, she's able to run around and go to the beach."

It's a much slower pace than her previous life on the set of a popular TV sitcom in Tinseltown, where she first got the idea for animated children's videos.

Her mother, Louise, told her the story of Brown when she was working on ``Fresh Prince." Louise Parsons was a librarian at the time, and whenever she came across a good story she shared it with her daughter.

``I thought it was so fascinating. I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it," says Parsons, who put the story on the back burner while working on ``Fresh Prince" and juggling her movie roles, which included the miniseries ``Gulliver's Travels" with Alfre Woodard.

When ``Fresh Prince" ended its run in 1996, Parsons kept acting. She starred in ``Lush Life," a short-lived sitcom she co-produced about two class-divided friends, with Parsons's character having a white mother. She also starred in the 1998 independent movie ``Finding Nia," about a biracial woman. Both roles resonated with her; Parsons has a white father and a black mother.

A year later she met Rockwell through a mutual friend at a New York City restaurant and, as a result, began spending time in Westport. They married three years ago in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

She has taken a break from acting because her biggest role these days is motherhood. Lana was born shortly after she married Rockwell. With her husband's encouragement, she also gave birth to Sweet Blackberry.

``My husband said, `You need to stop talking about this and do this,' " Parsons recalls with that infectious laugh. ``I began work on Sweet Blackberry a few months after Lana was born, while completely sleep-deprived."

Parsons reached out to Gina Kamentsky , a Somerville artist whom Parsons had met through her mother-in-law, Svetalana Rockwell , who is also an artist. They began laying out a plan for the first DVD, with Parsons writing the story and Kamentsky overseeing the illustrations.

``It's really a compelling story," says Kamentsky, who is a Massachusetts College of Art professor. ``I liked Karyn's energy immediately, and I loved her writing."

Parsons also contacted her old friend Woodard, who agreed to appear in the DVD and narrate it.

The animated tale opens with Woodard asking a group of children what is freedom and then telling them Brown's story . When she opens a book, animated illustrations come to life as she narrates them in rhyme. It's a storybook on screen.

Animal characters -- Bird, Mouse, Cricket, Cat, and Horse -- are used to discuss slavery, submission, and freedom. Brown meets the animals along his 27-hour, 300-mile journey.

Parsons plans to expand her series to include six other DVDs. She hopes that as the series grows that she will highlight other historical figures of other colors. Subjects include Ellen Kraft , a fair-skinned slave who freed herself and her darker skinned-husband by posing as his master, and Janet Collins, an African-American prima ballerina in the 1940s.

Parsons says she hasn't had time to think about acting but doesn't rule out returning to the TV or silver screen. Right now she's too busy with Lana.

Standing outside her two-story gray shingled home , Parsons tries to get Lana to stop hiding from a reporter.

``She gets shy," Parsons says on the deck of her home, with her husband and her sister-in-law smiling and watching nearby.

Parsons scoops up her daughter and gives her a hug.

``We love it here," Parsons says. ``It couldn't be further than Hollywood."

Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com.