Sheryl Lee Ralph
| Sheryl Lee Ralph | |
|---|---|
Ralph attending Black Enterprise Pre-Oscar Party, 2008.
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| Born |
December 30, 1956 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Other names | Sheryl L. Ralph |
| Education |
Uniondale High School Rutgers University |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1977–present |
| Known for | Deena Jones – Dreamgirls (Broadway; 1981) Dee Mitchell – Moesha |
| Spouse(s) |
Vincent Hughes (m. 2005) Eric Maurice (m. 1990; div. 2001) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | sherylleeralph |
Sheryl Lee Ralph (born December 30, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and activist. She made her screen debut in the 1977 comedy film A Piece of the Action, before landing her breakthrough role as Deena Jones in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls (1981), for which she received Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
Ralph has appeared in a number of movies during her career. In 1991, she received Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her role in the drama film To Sleep with Anger. Her other film credits include The Mighty Quinn (1989), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), and Deterrence (1999). On television, Ralph starred from 1986 to 1989 in the syndicated sitcom It's a Living, and later had the leading roles in the short-lived ABC sitcom New Attitude (1990), and CBS medical drama Street Gear (1995). From 1996 to 2001, she starred as Dee Mitchell in the UPN sitcom Moesha, and from 2013 to 2015 as Maggie Turner in the Nick at Nite sitcom Instant Mom.
Sheryl Lee Ralph released her first book Redefining Diva: Life Lessons from the Original Dreamgirl (2012) by Simon & Schuster. In 2016 she played Madame Morrible in Wicked on Broadway.
Ralph was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, the daughter of Ivy, a fashion designer, and Stanley Ralph, a college professor. Her father was African-American and her mother Afro-Jamaican. According to a DNA analysis, she descends partly from the Tikar people of Cameroon. She was raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island. Ralph attended Uniondale High School in Uniondale, New York. She starred in a high-school production of the musical Oklahoma!, portraying Ado Annie. Sheryl graduated in 1972. Earlier that year, she was crowned Miss Black Teen-age New York. At 19, Ralph was the youngest woman to ever graduate from Rutgers University; during her time at Rutgers, Ralph was one of the earliest winners of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships awarded by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Also that year she was named one of the top ten college women in America by Glamour magazine. Initially she hoped to study medicine, but after dealing with cadavers in a pre-med class and winning a scholarship in a competition at the American College Theater Festival, she gave up medicine for the performing arts. Many years later, she served as the commencement speaker at Rutgers for the Class of 2003.
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