By Genoa Barrow | OBSERVER Senior Staff Writer

Phillip Lewis recently taped an episode of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Lewis works as a local cable man, but wants to break into acting. Special to the OBSERVER
Phillip Lewis recently taped an episode of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Lewis works as a local cable man, but wants to break into acting. Special to the OBSERVER

Local cable man Phillip Lewis envisions a career as an actor, going from making sure people can watch television to being on their screens himself. Lewis will be on television screens across the country on Tuesday, Oct. 3, as he appears on the long-running game show, “Let’s Make a Deal.” 

“Let’s Make a Deal” has been on CBS since the 1960s. The show, with host Wayne Brady, is an updated version, but its premise and popularity have remained: contestants in wacky costumes vying for money and prizes by striking wacky deals.

Wearing a musketeer costume, Lewis plays a game called “Draw Straws.” Until the episode airs, he can’t reveal whether he won.

“Win, lose or draw, we had a great time, we had a really big laugh,” Lewis said.

He counts getting to meet the show’s host as a highlight.

“It’s always been kind of a dream of mine to face off with Wayne Brady and actually meet him in person,” Lewis said. He’d also like to meet “Roots” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star and Sacramento native Levar Burton.

Lewis’ own acting career includes appearing as an army drill sergeant trying to distract a driver in the pilot for a series called “Auto Addiction.”

A single dad, Lewis was looking to raise money for child support and to help pay for his daughter’s upcoming quinceanera. He’s also launching a business, Uncle Phil’s Lemonade, that taps into his love of television. It’s a play on his own name and that of a character on Will Smith’s hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” portrayed by late actor James Avery.

“I remember growing up watching ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.’ Uncle Phil was everybody’s favorite uncle in the world after ‘The Cosby Show’ went off and Carl Winslow [on ‘Family Matters’],” Lewis said.