“You Can Thirst, But She’s Drinking.” Adrian Holmes On His IRL Black Love & Bel-Air’s Sexiest Season Yet

If there was anyone most fans were thirsting after from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, it was probably Will Smith – the character and the actor. Maybe Hilary and Ashley Banks were close seconds and Carlton a distant third in the rankings (even Jazz has stans). James Avery’s Uncle Phil, while beloved (and handsome!) was barely on our thirst radars. Original recipe Uncle Phil was a family man, prone to protective outbursts while somehow always remaining a beacon of strength and love. The Uncle Phil of Peacock's dramatic Fresh Prince reboot Bel-Air is…well, the same, yet also entirely different. Adrian Holmes' Philip Banks is still stern, uncompromising as he pushes the children in his care to be the very best of themselves. But Bel-Air is no sitcom; it's a sexy drama by way of All-American or The O.C., one in which Carlton is addicted to cocaine and Geoffrey is a pseudo spy "fixer." Also notable? This version of Uncle Phil is a raging zaddy. 

Phil's outbursts have more bass once removed from the world of multi-cam laugh tracks. In Bel-Air, Phil's whole being is more sultry, more serious, with more swagger. He also rocks a notably tighter wardrobe, strutting through Los Angeles in a variety of suits and cashmere sweaters. "I get some really cool uniforms," Holmes says over Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. "It really enhances and supports my performance." 

Since Bel-Air is a notably darker, sexier reinterpretation, it only tracks that its Uncle Phil is, too. Holmes, who was born in Wales but raised in Vancouver, Canada, has been acting since 1991, when he appeared in the Canadian drama Neon Rider. Since then his credits have spanned shows like Smallville, Supernatural, Arrow, The Boys, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and more. He's an acting veteran, and it shows in the smoldering regality he brings to his performance. Uncle Phil was always stern, defensive, and dignified to a fault — and in Bel-Air serves that up with added dramatic intrigue and higher stakes. Also tighter suits. Did we mention the tight suits? This ain't the Uncle Phil audiences grew up with, and it was a tall order to get viewers to buy into such a departure. It did help, though, that the cast looks like that — and that Holmes is not only walking in Avery's footsteps, but also those of primetime soap dads like The O.C.'s Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher). In Holmes' hands, Phil is a man torn between his career ambitions and his very real love for his family. He doesn't always do the right thing, but he's trying, and he's been known to apologize when he makes the wrong move. What's sexier than that? 

Now, with a tricky introduction behind them, Season 3 has more room than ever to play. "It is summertime [this season], so it's hot," Holmes says. "And we definitely throw some logs on the fire." Uncle Phil's story in particular is sure to sizzle…and maybe even burn the house down. We last left Phil starting a new law firm, at which he'll work with an old flame, Erika (Diandra Lyle), who kissed him in the show's Season 2 finale. Phil rejected her advances, but his final moments in the episode saw him accepting Erika's dinner invitation. Phil is playing a "dangerous" balancing act this season, according to Holmes. But Phil and wife Vivian (Cassandra Freeman) aren't down for the count quite yet. "I'm excited for the audience to see Phil and Viv in a more sexy way," Holmes teased. "It's a lot of fire, so brace yourselves." 

Holmes has some real-life experience to bring to this remix of one of TV's greatest examples of Black love. Holmes is married to the British Nigerian actress Caroline Chikeze, known most recently for her work in Power Book II: Ghost. The pair were introduced by a mutual co-star from Holmes' days on Smallville (Holmes preferred not to name exactly who). These days Holmes talks about his wife with a loving smile on his face. "Loving a Black woman is something I've always known," Holmes says, recalling the love his mother showed him as a child and how it informed the way he now loves Chikeze. "To be able to marry a Black woman and continue with that love? It just feels right. It's full circle in a way. I feel fortunate to have a beautiful Black woman in my life who has my back. I feel supported, accepted, seen."

The fact that Chikeze is a fellow actor also helps the couple on a very practical level: She doesn't balk when Holmes has to perform sexy scenes with co-stars. "Someone not in the business might have a more difficult time with that," Holmes admits. But Holmes and Chikeze have a system. "We talk about it, and what we're comfortable with, out of respect. But then we just trust each other. We know that we're just going to work, and it's the character, [not us]. And then we come home and we love on each other."

Holmes has a whole different philosophy to deal with the barrage of out-of-pocket DMs that slide his way now that he's in the public eye. "The best thing is just to ignore them," Holmes tells me. "If there are certain people you recognize as sending [inappropriate messages] you just scroll past them. Don't even open them, don't read them. Put them in the archive. Once you engage, then you're in trouble." 

It's a hazard of the job, especially when starring on a show where sex appeal is a prerequisite. "There are a lot of thirsty people out there, and they think that when they have access to you [on social media] they can ask for everything," Holmes says. He prefers to spend his time instead responding to the many people who reach out with compliments, or to the aspiring actors messaging him for advice. 

When asked how Chikeze feels about all the thirst aimed at her husband, Holmes laughs. "I like to think she's happy about that," he says. "Because you can thirst, but she's drinking." 

You could say that Holmes manifested his biggest success to date, the one that's brought him all this attention — and yes, all this thirst. Back in 2018, before the world changed in a thousand different ways, Holmes and Chikezie took a tour of the Universal Studios backlot. "I pointed to the stages we were passing and I said, 'honey, I'm going to be working on these stages,'" Holmes says. The tour vehicle turned at the bottom of a street and they came across a row of trailers. "I said, 'that's going to be my trailer.'" Sure enough, that very same area became Bel-Air's basecamp. The trailer he uses as Uncle Phil is one and the same. 

Three seasons in Holmes is still so grateful to be there. He also knows there's no replacing Avery. Having appeared in 147 episodes of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Avery was undeniably iconic. Though the actor passed away in 2013, the legacy of his portrayal lives on every time that clip of Phil comforting Will about his dad circulates on social media. Or, just recently, when a clip of Uncle Phil telling OG Aunt Viv how stunning she is — specifically how beautiful her dark skin is — went viral. Those are impossible shoes to fill — so Holmes didn't try to. "It was so surreal when I first got the call that I was in contention for this role," Holmes says. "Then I thought: as opposed to getting caught up in the pressure and the stress of the magnitude of this role, let me just have fun with this." 

So he did. Bel-Air's creator, Morgan Cooper, encouraged all of the cast to make these roles their own. "It's the remix," Holmes says. It's one that's lucky to include Holmes, who in real life has a steady, calming presence. He's the kind of man who thanks God and sprinkles inspirational quotes into every conversation. Before Holmes made it big he went to nursing school, an experience that taught him a lot that he still carries with him to this day. "There are so many things that can go wrong, that can change our lives [in a second]," Holmes says. "It gave me gratitude for every single day, every moment…it's a blessing to be able to do what you love." 

Which may be why, when he learned he landed the role of Uncle Phil, Holmes went metaphorically "tumbling down the street like an Olympic gymnast." In an attitude fitting this sunny, God-loving man, he fought the inevitable onslaught of nerves that came next by telling himself that "if the Lord takes you to it, he'll get you through it." 

Three seasons in, Holmes has made it through. If Bel-Air's first season was all about winning viewers over to this new interpretation, the attempts seem to have succeeded. These days Holmes is approached by so many fans in the streets that he's started answering to his character's name. "If I had a dollar for every time I hear 'Phil! Uncle Phil!' out in the world…" Holmes mused with a broad, gleaming smile. "I answer to both names now, Adrian and Phil. It's an honor." 

Bel-Air Season 3 premieres on Peacock on August 15