Alfonso Ribiero Interview

INTERVIEW WITH ALFONSO RIBIERO FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) I understand you're pretty busy lately with the new show, "Your Big Break".

AR) Well, it's been pretty good. We're done with it for this season, so I have a little bit more time, but I'm also preparing to direct a film.

DM) What film are you directing?

AR) Well, it's still in the works... the pre-pre-pre-production stage. That keeps you real busy.

DM) Well, in your own words, what is a summary of what "Your Big Break" is about?

AR) Well, basically a karaoke/Star Search fun show for people. The show is basically made up of six contestants who come on every week and sing their favorite artists. They sing in their own live voices, no lip synching, and the audience has got to decide at the end of the show who the winner is, which makes it great. There's no political agenda to it. It's whoever the audience thinks is the best. From there they go on to the finals, and then the semi-finals, where they can win 25,000 dollars.

DM) Are you trying to keep it away from Star Search, so it's not compared to it?

AR) We don't want it to be a Star Search, we want it to be its own thing. I think "Your Big Break" is more of a show about allowing regular, everyday people to perform on stage and to sing like their favorite artists. I think on Star Search there was a similar segment, with people singing their own songs, but I think from an audience standpoint, it's as much fun to watch somebody sing a song you don't know, because then you're judging on how much you like the song not necessarily if they can sing or not. On this show, you just get to see them sing, and I think that is a good thing.

DM) Has there ever been anybody that you think is really talented come on, or has it usually sounded like "Kareoke night at the local bar?

AR) No, I really feel that everybody we've had on there has been really talented. There's been a John Lennon that's been great, a Whitney Houston, Cher, Shania Twain, Stevie Wonder... there have been so many different styles of artists, and they've all been really solid. I've become a fan of the show by doing the show.

DM) When I heard you were hosting, I was really surprised, because as somebody who's been performing all your life, you have the makes of somebody who just loves to perform and who loves being a performer. With the acting, the dancing, the directing, I was surprised you'd want to do this, as I'd think you'd rather be the one performing.

AR) Well, you always do want to perform, but I think what it also means is that, because I've done so much performing, it's the perfect blend. It's perfect for me to be on that stage with those people who are giving it their all for the very first time. That's something that I've gone through, and it allows me to be a part of that great energy that the people bring.

DM) Considering this show is finding people's hidden talents, what are some of the talents that you have that people haven't discovered yet?

AR) Well, with the directing, people will see a new side of me. I think people don't see the serious side of me. I'm not just fun and funny; I can do that, and I think I do that very well, but I'm also a talented dramatic actor. I think to be able to do comedy, you have to be very serious about what you're saying. Even though you can be light and fun and say things in a joking manner to have comedy you have to have drama. I think that in years to come people will see that.

DM) Do you feel you've been typecast in more of a comedy role?

AR) Absolutely. (said definitively) But that's part of this industry; it's part of the shallowness of this industry, it's where people say, "Wow, you've done this so well. That must be the only thing that you can do." And I think through my career I've shown that I can sing, I can dance, I can do comedy, I can act, I can direct... You can put me in that one category, and that's it. I do a ton of different of things. I do them in the real world. I will continue to do them well, and eventually people will see all of the talents that I have. I'm in this for the long haul. I'm not in this for the quick shot to the top. I want to do this forever, and the way you do that is to do things in stages and everything things will stick.

DM) When you say "stages", it reminds me of the first time I saw the television show, "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air." The second you came on screen I said, "That's the guy who was on Broadway, The Tap Dance Kid." The friends with me had no idea of this part of your career, which was pretty strong within itself. The role's pretty different from a Broadway dancer to the preppie brother on a television show.

AR) That's why it's called acting. If it was called, "Hey, let's look for Conan the Barbarian, for real," you wouldn't find anybody. Now you find Arnold Schwarzenegger who was a great body builder and transformed into Conan. You look for people who can kind of play the role, but that's why it's acting. You find people who can do different things. There was a portion of me that was The Tap Dance Kid, there was a portion of me that was in "Silver Spoons", there was a portion of me that was in "The Fresh Prince"... you take a little piece of you, work on it and expand it, and you make it grow into a whole person. There are a lot of different aspects of the individual.

DM) You mentioned before about the typecasting. I imagine that it must be infuriating to have it almost erase a part of you. Your last big role on "The Fresh Prince" erased from a lot of people's memory "Silver Spoons" and The Tap Dance Kid.

AR) Right, certainly. Here's the thing, it's not just be, it's the industry also saying, "We want Alfonso Ribeiro not to be viewed this way"; it's the way this business is. You can't get upset at it. You do the best you do and hope that people see it. Eventually, that role will go away in people's minds and I will create a new Alfonso and I will show them a new version of me. It's part of the industry, so you deal with it and you keep on stepping. I think that having hard feelings and being down on something only takes away from what you want to do in terms of growing.

DM) Is it part of the industry or part of human nature to typecast somebody?

AR) Well, I think it's part of both. I think that Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) has had the opportunity to do different things. Yes, we all remember him as that character, but the minute the industry gives him another job, Americans will forget your other characters very quickly. They'll forget what you've done in your past if you're showing them something in the present. It's more because the industry doesn't allow certain people to grow and step forward that the audience can't do that. It's not as if the audience is saying that they don't want the actor to so something else, it's the fact that the actor hasn't had the opportunity to do so.

DM) It sounds like a Catch-22.

AR) Well, it is, but the problem is that the industry has to allow for that to happen. It's not the public. Unfortunately, the industry will use the public as an excuse, but realistically it's just the industry... in my opinion. Look at Will Smith, he was the "Fresh Prince". He's Independence Day, He's Men in Black, he's about to be Mohammed Ali. He's Enemy of the State and he's moved on from "Fresh Prince" to Will Smith. the way you do that is by doing other things. To show people that just that character isn't all he is. We can go down a list of a hundred different actors. Once they've been given the opportunity to show that they can do something else, the audience forgets the other roles.

DM) It's a hard road to do that, I imagine. It seems that it could take numerous films just to erase one's character and replace it with your own persona.

AR) Well, I don't think it necessarily takes numerous films. I think Independence Day broke him of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" character, and from there it became just Will Smith. In other words, if I was that character in Independence Day, it wouldn't be, "That's Carlton Banks", it would be "Oh, that's Alfonso Ribeiro", which then makes you separate from a role. Where the difference is, is that people know the individual and not the character. People think of me as the character and not the individual.

DM) Is the character Carlton Banks anything like you?

AR) Not in my opinion, but that's just me. I view that role as an acting job. I don't listen to the same music that the character listens to; I don't have the same views. Yeah, I sound like the character because it's the same voice! In terms of the ways that character thinks, it's the very opposite of who I am.

DM) Considering that the personalities of your character and your persona are so opposite, it must be interesting when fans react by calling you Carlton Banks, or treating you as if he is you.

AR) Well, at times, I say, "No, my name is Alfonso . Carlton's on TV." And I definitely try to make it very clear to the fans that there's a separation.

DM) Has this happened for all of the other roles before this? Were you called, "Mr. Tap Dance Kid," or "Mr. Silver Spoons"?

AR) Absolutely. It's happened in pretty much every job that I've done. They key there is that I keep trying to stress that, "Yes I've done that role and yes, I've been that person and all the rest of it, but that is not me. I am this person, I am Alfonso , and he's very different from all of these characters." Yes, there are parts of him that are in those characters, but those are very small parts of me that are in those characters.

DM) It seems as if every major character you've had has erased the one previous to that almost completely.

AR) Absolutely, if you think of "Fresh Prince" and you go back to "Silver Spoons", "Fresh Prince" what people thought of me in terms of "Silver Spoons". "Silver Spoons" erased what people thought of me in terms of The Tap Dance Kid. Every job that you do is who you are when they see you. Especially when you're talking about television, which can go on for several years. It's not one movie. For movies, it takes a little longer, because the reality is that people see it once. For "Fresh Prince", people would tune in every week, and now that it's in syndication, they can tune in every night. So they get a new dose of that character of every day of their lives, rather than one shot here and one shot there. So it's very easy to move "Silver Spoons" out of the way when you do a new "Fresh Prince." The only exception has been when I did "In The House" after "Fresh Prince", because it wasn't big enough to move "Fresh Prince" out of the way. And people didn't see it enough to erase Carlton Banks out of their minds. And especially now that it's no longer on, and "Fresh Prince" is still on in syndication, so any getting Carlton out of their minds has now gone back.

DM) Can a television show ever allow somebody to see you for you, or is it the nature of television being on every week that causes the character to replace the persona? As opposed to movies, which might be every year but a different character.

AR) Well, it all depends on how you do it. I think that the main difference is publicity. When you are the lead on a show, you have every publicity department working to achieve a goal, and that goal is normally to erase any of the other jobs and to make this job the new job. And sometimes in doing that, it means you're actually trying to show yourself. The reasons I've chosen to do this show, "Your Big Break", is because, one, I really enjoy doing it; and two, is because I'm not playing a role. It's me being me on that stage. So I get a chance to show people who I am. It's me and not these characters.

DM) Are people starting to see the difference?

AR) I think they are. I think slowly but surely they are, but I have to do a show where... if I was on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" like Regis Philbin, well, I think people would forget Carlton very quickly. It's in numbers.

DM) Because "Millionaire" seemed to make Regis just Regis. Do you find people get almost upset or put off because they might feel that Carlton isn't supposed to act that way?

AR) Yes, but eventually they'll get over that.

DM) And this might actually erase the characters and make you just you. Is that something that's an easy goal, or is it something that might never be achieved in your lifetime?

AR) It may never be achieved. I don't think anything is easy, but you have a plan and you go for it.

DM) How would you feel about the idea of not achieving that?

AR) It's part of life. Not every goal, not everything that you set out to do is something you always achieve. That's why I started directing, also. If I never get another job in front of the camera, then so be it, but I'm not going to stop and wait for people to give me work, I'm going to create work. I'm going to do my own work, and I'm going to do different work. Not everything that you want, if it doesn't come true, will make you fall apart. That's a weak person and, unfortunately, there are a lot of weak people in this industry who can't deal with failure or anything. That's part of life: there are ups and downs and you've got to deal with them.