9 Quick Questions for Alfonso Ribeiro

Actor gears up to host America’s 247th birthday bash

Gayle Jo Carter,

AARP

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Published June 22, 2023

alfonso ribeiro wearing a gray suit and smiling against a light pink and orange background

Sebastian Kim/ABC

Actor and TV host Alfonso Ribeiro, 51, hopes to bring the nation together when he leads PBS’s annual A Capitol Fourth celebration, which will include performances by Chicago, Boyz II Men, Belinda Carlisle, Babyface, Renée Fleming and the National Symphony Orchestra. “It’s really an honor for me to do A Capitol Fourth with all of those incredible artists and the fireworks in D.C. I truly believe it’s a time in our country where we need to look at the things that we are alike in and not our differences,” says Ribeiro. “What better place to do that than in D.C.?”

In addition to A Capitol Fourth, you host both America’s Funniest Home Videos and Dancing With the Stars. What’s your secret to being a good host?

Be yourself. It’s about personality and having fun and being light and being loose. You’re also a director on the floor. You have a director in the booth and you have a director on the floor, and the director on the floor is your host. And because I’ve spent so many years directing television shows, I understand what the job really is and what it’s supposed to be. I get out of my own way and allow it to happen. There are going to be things, especially in live television, that you can’t control. You’ve got to go with it. Those are some of the best moments.

alfonso ribeiro onstage dancing with a woman in a yellow dress in a still from dancing with the stars

Ribeiro was the celebrity winner on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 19 and is now host of the show.

Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

How do you typically celebrate July 4th?

We’ve done different things. My golf club here in L.A. typically would have big fireworks and a party on the 4th of July. Years ago we’d go to that. The last few years we’ve been up in Lake Tahoe for the American Century Golf Tournament. We would go up there and we would go out on a boat and watch the fireworks, which has been fantastic.

Nothing says July 4 like a barbecue. Are you a hamburger or hot dog guy? Toppings?

I love a good barbecue. I am always a burger guy. I am only ketchup — I do not like mustard at all. I don’t know why. I never have and never will. I’m pretty plain, just cheese. If I get fancy, I’ll throw some bacon on there, maybe some avocado, but it’s really just a basic burger.

Do you have a favorite patriotic song?

God Bless America and the national anthem [The Star-Spangled Banner], since I sing them all the time. I don’t think there’s anything more patriotic than those two songs.

In all of your gigs, your positivity is palpable. How do you maintain that?

My attitude has always been: I believe in the positive way of looking at things. If you decide to look at things positively, you will bring positive energy into your life. It’s just a frame of mind you have complete and total control over. I always like to say, “Control the things you can control, and let go of the things that you can’t.” I can control my energy and my outlook, but I can’t control other things. So I let those other things just live in their own space.

You had your first child in your 30s [daughter Sienna, 20, with Robin Stapler], and now in your 50s, you and your wife [Angela Unkrich] are raising your three children [sons AJ, 9, and Anders, 8, and daughter Ava, 4]. How is parenting different now?

Everything's different. … I am older, wiser and smarter. I have a better understanding of what my role is and how to nurture them and help them grow into amazing human beings. It’s a very interesting thing when you consider the fact that most people have kids when they’re young, but they’re kids themselves. There’s no blueprint on how to be a good parent. At my age now, I’ve learned a lot about how to be better, how to be more connected to them in the right ways.

You and your Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Will Smith have stayed close over the years. What’s the secret to a long friendship?

At the end of the day, it’s about listening. We’ve always maintained the ability to talk to one another and listen to one another and hear what we have to say and respect what we have to say and what we feel. We live in a very interesting time in our history where social media has created this narcissistic behavior where everything is about what you feel and what you want and what you decide. There are a lot of other people in the world that have very different views, and we have to be able to listen to that. We have to be able to hear what they’re saying and hear what they believe in. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect and none of us are right all the time, but if we’re listening to one another, we have the ability to learn from one another. The key to any relationship is being capable of listening and hearing and having empathy for what the other person is going through.

As an avid golfer, what has that sport taught you?

I’m super analytical and golf is an incredibly analytical sport, and so it really works to my advantage in that way. But then it also can be the worst thing in the world, because you can get overanalytical. I play with a guy by the name of Sterling Sharpe every once in a while. He’s an ex-NFL player, fantastic wide receiver. He used to say this: “I’m going to get up, I’m going to hit my ball, I’m going to go find it, I’m going to go hit it again.” Sometimes that’s just how you have to play the game. It’s like, you do all your work ahead of time to be the best that you can be going into that round, and as soon as you get there, you just gotta go hit the ball, find it, go hit it again, and don’t get caught up in the technique of it all. That’s what I do.

Now that you’ve entered your 50s, have you made any life changes?

I don’t necessarily approach my 50s any differently than I did in my 40s or any other time in my life. I think there are realistic realities of being 50. At the end of the day, you’re not as capable of doing all the things that you might have wanted to do in your 30s and 20s, but my outlook is the same. I’m going to enjoy and live. I say this to my wife all the time: “What’s the purpose of life if you don’t live it?” I’m constantly making sure that I’m living my life and not existing in my life.

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Gayle Jo Carter is a former entertainment editor at USA WEEKEND, who during her 30-year reporting and editing career, has worked at USA TODAY, Voice of America and Feature Story News. When not interviewing high-profile people, she’s teaching reformer Pilates classes and doing her best to raise two empathetic, curious, healthy young people to adulthood.