Bel-Air actor and The Legacy Awards host Adrian Holmes shares 4 books that ground him
The Vancouver-raised actor will host The 2024 Legacy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 29 on CBC
Known for his many roles in film and TV including Bel-Air and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Adrian Holmes is coming back to Canada to host the third annual edition of The Legacy Awards celebrating Black Canadian talent on CBC.
Created by Scarborough, Ont., brothers and actors Shamier Anderson and Stephan James The Legacy Awards, which debuted in 2022, honours new and established Black Canadian creatives. The 90-minute special features live performances and award presentations and will be held at Live Nation Canada's HISTORY on Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. ET (9 p.m. AT/9:30 p.m. NT).
The Legacy Awards will also be live on CBC TV and streamable through CBC Gem and CBC's YouTube channel.
Holmes is an actor born in North Wales and raised in Vancouver. Pursuing theatre from a very young age, his first play was The Wizard of Oz where he first found a passion for performing. Holmes went on to star in more than 100 films and TV shows, most notably as Uncle Phil on Peacock's Bel-Air as well as The Boys, 19-2 and Arrow. In 2024 he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
When asked to host The Legacy Awards Holmes remarked that it felt like "a full circle moment," remembering what it was like to be an emerging Black actor himself.
"I had some great mentors in my life to give me advice and including my family … so I know how important that is and what it means," said Holmes. "To be in a position now where I can be that someone for the next generation to give them a sense of hope, to allow them to dream and to know that their dreams can become a reality and not just stay as dreams, it's very beautiful and special and I'm just grateful."
As a reader, Adrian Holmes finds great fiction mainly in the scripts he reads and turns to memoir and nonfiction in his daily life.
"[Nonfiction] speaks to me the most because I can really connect with them. I can relate to them … I leave space for the scripts and get into stories that are really grounded and can really feed me and help me in the here and now."
Before hosting The Legacy Awards Holmes offered a few recommendations of the nonfiction books that have inspired him throughout his acting career.
Check them out below.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Writer and comedian Trevor Noah was born to a white father and Black mother under apartheid South Africa when a union like the one of his parents usually meant five years in prison. In Born a Crime Noah shares the difficult moments of his childhood, having to be kept inside often and take extra precautions to avoid people finding out about him. After apartheid ended, Noah finds himself in a new world with new struggles which ultimately led to his prolific life today.
Noah is a two-time Emmy Award-winning South African comedian and former host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Alongside his writing he also works as a political commentator, actor and producer. Born a Crime was his first book.
"I just love those humble beginnings and those stories of disciple, focus, determination, commitment and consistency," said Holmes. "You can achieve your dreams, anything is possible and he's a great example of that."
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment is a self-help book about the importance of living in the present and transcending thoughts of the past and future. Deeply philosophical, Eckhart Tolle writes meditations and simple questions and answers to challenge readers in leaving their egos behind.
Tolle is a German writer and spiritual teacher best known for The Power of Now. He is also the author of A New Earth and Oneness With All Life.
"There's a lot of tools in those books to help you get through depression, to get through a lot of the ups and downs that we go through in life, so I really found his book to be very helpful in that way," noted Holmes.
The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
The Measure of a Man is a memoir, or "spiritual autobiography", of the life and work of American actor Sidney Poitier. Reflecting on his journey through seminal moments in cinema's history as well as his identity as a father and husband, Poitier details the triumphs and struggles he went through.
Poitier was an American writer and the first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in Lillies of the Field in 1963. The Measure of a Man was an Oprah's Book Club pick after it was released in 2000.
"As an actor it was very helpful for me … to care about his story coming up from the Bahamas and through Miami up to New York and working as a dishwasher," said Holmes. "And just having a vision, having a goal to be an actor and having to go against all the adversities and people telling him he couldn't do it but still pushing through."
The Devil Finds Work by James Baldwin
In the long-form essay The Devil Find Works novelist James Baldwin turns a critical eye on the racism in American films. Through close readings of movies like In the Heat of the Night and The Exorcist Baldwin interrogates the racial biases at work in the entertainment industry.
Baldwin was an American novelist and civil rights activist born in New York. His novels include Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room and If Beale Street Could Talk.
"It's reflections about his life and I'm curious to hear his thoughts on certain issues and what he went through again. He came up in a time where the world was not fair and he had to go through a lot to get to where he was," said Holmes.
Adrian Holmes' comments have been edited for clarity and length.
Watch The Legacy Awards on CBC this Sunday, Sept. 29
