Abbott Elementary’s young performers had better do their best. They must perform to the high standards set by actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who portrays instructor Barbara Howard.
At Ralph’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on Wednesday, Quinta Brunson, who co-created the series and plays teacher Janine Teagues, said, “I watch her help make little actors out of the children who star on our show,” by teaching them how to articulate themselves and reminding them that acting is a profession and an honor, not something you get to do just because you’re cute.
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The four seasons of the ABC comedy, which premiered in 2021, center on the employees of a Philadelphia public school that receives inadequate funding. Along with Tyler James Williams, Lisa Ann Walter, Janelle James, William Stanford Davis, and Chris Perfetti, Ralph and Brunson are co-stars on the Emmy-winning program.
Some of Brunson’s favorite stories about Ralph, who won the 2022 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Abbott Elementary, were recounted.
“I can always count on Sheryl to be the actual star that people want to see,” Brunson stated. “I tend to hide when the cart comes by on the Warner Bros. lot. Because, in reality, I’m a little shy, and I want to just get to makeup. But Sheryl, Sheryl sings to the people. She asks them, ‘How is your trip to Hollywood so far?’ And she tells them to stream Abbott while smiling at them brighter than the Hollywood sign itself. One they will never forget. Sometimes, she doesn’t even have her wig on yet, and she is giving these people the show of a lifetime.”
Ralph has made appearances on sitcoms including The Jeffersons, Designing Women, Moesha, and Instant Mom since the 1970s. She starred in movies including Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, White Man’s Burden, and The Flintstones when she wasn’t broadcasting. It wasn’t always simple.
Ralph, 68, remarked, “Oh, the dreams I dared to dream,” in her own moving statement. “But now you see me. My trip doesn’t look like me. There were times, not very long ago, when I was unable to enter the audition room. And I am now firmly established as a member of the industry’s basis.”
