World
It’s Sheryl Lee Ralph’s world, and we’re all just living in it
Amy Sussman/BAFTA/Contour by Getty
“I’m up there, as they say, in tall cotton. Walking with the big dogs, and I love it.”
It’s Sheryl Lee Ralph’s world, and we’re all just living in it. First, there’s her Emmy-winning turn as Barbara Howard on ABC‘s Abbott Elementary, where she just picked up her third nomination in a category that includes icons like Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett. “Carol, Meryl and Sheryl! The company I keep. I was so thrilled.” But she’s also aware she couldn’t do it alone. “I thank [creator/star of Abbott Elementary] Quinta Brunson, my cast, the crew, my writers. And when they say I’m a supporting actress, I am a supported actress. That’s what’s gotten me here.” Now, she’s branching out into films, co-starring alongside Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally in The Fabulous Four. “[The Fabulous Four] is for everyone to realize that friendships matter. The relationships that you have, how you go through life, together with others, it really matters.” Considering how she seems to be thriving especially on TV, does she feel like the queen of TV? “No, but I am enjoying a certain place in TV. I’ll let other people say that or make me recognize that.”
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Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
I have to say congratulations on your Emmy nomination! How does it feel to be in a category with Carol Burnett and Meryl Streep?
Go on, say it again! Come on, baby. Carol, Meryl and Sheryl! The company I keep. I’m up there, as they say, in tall cotton. Walking with the big dogs, and I love it. I was so thrilled. I said, “What? Did that just happen? Really?!”
You’ve been doing this for a while, so it must feel amazing to get this acclaim now. How does that feel?
Oh my God, it feels much better than you could ever imagine. And it’s like, I feel it. My son always says this, “Be present, mommy, just be present.” And I’m actually present in the moment, feeling all of this, walking in my joy. It has been an incredible journey, not without its bumps and ups and downs, slips and slides, but to get to this point where it’s like, “Wow, I’m at this moment.” I am loving it. And to be able to be on the journey and have people love it with me. People don’t get that a lot. To be nominated is a feat because the names, it’s like a phone book. People go through thousands of names. To be able to rise to this level three times in a row. I thank Quinta Brunson. I thank my cast. I thank the crew. I thank my writers because we all do this together. And when they say I’m a supporting actress, I am a supported actress. That’s what’s gotten me here.
In The Fabulous Four, you play so much more than a pot dealer, but she is a fan of the pot. A character like this is different for you. How much fun did you have playing against type?
Wow, with this role, in the beginning, she was really supposed to just be a pot dealer. And then I said, you know, it’s the image of the Black woman that I’m concerned about. I’d love to see her be more than just a pot dealer in this time where now cannabis has much more of a respect level. Let’s make her a botanist. A woman who is literally studying cannabis. She’s not just smoking it, she is studying the cannabis. And she is developing different strains of the cannabis. And they were like, “Oh, that’s great. Give her brains.” And I was like, “Thank you. Let’s do that.” So to be able to do that and have developed great edibles, I was like, “Yeah, I can see that. That’s good.” So I loved that, and to give her heart, to be so accepting of her gay grandson in a time where his mother’s trying to put him out just for being gay. I was just like, “Ah, let’s do more with that.” And they were open to that. So for me, it was just perfect.
Courtesy Bleecker Street
What was it like working with these three women? I mean, you and Bette Midler together is kind of everything.
First of all, I was so excited. When we started doing Dreamgirls, it was written by Tom Eyen. Tom had been working with a young Bette Midler, doing those concerts and shows they would do in the bathhouses back in the ’70s. And he always just spoke about this artist. If he could have made Bette Midler Effie White, he would have. He had such a love and affection for Bette, and I always wanted to meet her, but it just never happened. We did [the animated] Oliver and Company together, but we never worked together, doing animation. So here I was at this time in my career, and we were going to work together. I was like, “Yes, finally.” And she was all the things and more that I thought she was. Bette is the kind of person that is doing good things in the world that people don’t know about, creating spaces that people can enjoy. And they don’t know that she did that. She’s a measured thinker. She takes time with how she presents her thoughts to the world. I love that. And she was very giving to me with her wisdom, where she is in her life. She said, “Sheryl, look at me. I need you to stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. If you don’t stretch, you shrink, there is no shrinking. Look at me. I could be shrinking now. Probably not. But don’t shrink.” And sometimes people say things to you, and you think they’re saying one thing. She was probably saying to me, in my mind, many things. Don’t shrink physically. Don’t shrink mentally. Don’t shrink spiritually. Continue to stretch, continue to grow, no matter how much older you get. Amazing.
And to be in a film with another queen of TV, Megan Mullally, who famously played Karen on Will & Grace. Do you feel like a queen of television?
No, I don’t feel like that. But I am enjoying a certain place in TV. But a queen of TV, I don’t know. I’ll let other people say that or make me recognize that. But you know what Megan has? Megan has great jewelry. I’m telling you. Megan has some incredible jewelry. And every day she would come to the set and I was like, “Girl what?” Megan had a Chanel belt that didn’t fit anymore. Megan took the belt and started wearing it as a necklace. Do you know that I had to go buy a tiny Chanel belt so I could wear it around my neck as a necklace. I said, “I don’t know if I’m a new fashion kind of icon or I’m a hip-hop queen. I don’t know. But I’m wearing that Chanel belt.” Wow. Oh, my goodness. Do you know she brought her own wardrobe? The whole movie, that was all Megan’s clothing. I was like, “Girl, Gucci and you are having an affair, aren’t they?”
The Fabulous Four feels like it’s made for all types of audiences, from women to queer people to mega fans of the four of you.
And I so welcome all of that, because a space was made in the film for everybody to feel welcome. We might be the ages that we are, but it is for everyone to realize that friendships matter. The relationships that you have in life matter, how you go through life, together with others, it really matters, especially in times like these. We want people to know you don’t have to ride this rough storm by yourself. Welcome the relationships that you have, rethink them, go back, collect those that are important to you. And sometimes you got to drop the ones that are not important to you. But anyway, we’re talking about real good friendships.
What do you think it is about your character on Abbott Elementary that resonates so much with fans?
First of all, teachers; they love the show. They love the fact that they are not the butt of the joke, that they are being respected for what they do, that the show is shining a light on the need for people across this country to pay attention to how we educate all of our children, not just some of our children, how we take into consideration, not judging young people by their zip code. By deciding that everybody deserves a great education. That’s one thing. The fact that people have taken the time to go back to find those teachers that made a difference in their life that had an impact in their life. My gym teacher from junior high school reached out to me to tell me how happy she was to see me because she always knew I was going to be somebody. I mean, it’s done things like that. The fact that Mrs. Abbott, the teacher that had an impact on Quinta, her name is in the title of the show, Abbott Elementary. There’s a real Mrs. Abbott. My character, Barbara Howard, is really Quinta’s mom, and how going to school with her mom, a kindergarten teacher, to see what she did and how she impacted her classrooms live. When I was having dinner in a restaurant with my husband and this little girl walked up to me and she said, “I’m going to school, and I need a teacher that is good like you,” I wanted to say, “First of all a little girl, I’m not a teacher, but thank you.” But it was just like, oh my God, when you have an impact like that, oh my goodness, it’s magic.
The one thing that I find so great about this resurgence in love for you is how many young people love you. And you seem to have really embraced it, talking about the highs and lows of this career and industry, and it’s been an inspiration for a lot of people.
That for me is truly an honor, because that’s what my career has been for. My career has been for those who would come behind me to realize that you are intimately involved with the choices that you make in life, you have a great deal to say about the art that you create, that you owe it to yourself. Don’t compare, don’t compete, love yourself just the way you are because you’re perfect just the way you are. I’m here to be an example for you.
About the writer
A writer/comedian based in Los Angeles. Host of the weekly podcast Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott, …
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