Sheryl Lee Ralph

From Harpo's Juke Joint

Sheryl Lee Ralph

Born:	December 30, 1956 Waterbury, CT USA
Website:	official website
Fanlisting:	n/a
Discuss Sheryl Lee Ralph

Sheryl Lee Ralph is a Jamaican-American actress and singer, and the wife of Pennsylvania senator Vincent Hughes (D). Although Ralph is best known for her stage work - specifically her Tony award-nominated performance in the broadway musical Dreamgirls - Ralph has put in equal time in both television and film, with her filmography dating back to the late 1970s.

In December of 2005, the National HIV/AIDS Partnership Organization awarded Ralph its first Red Ribbon Leadership Award^[1] for her efforts in spreading AIDS awareness, which include her award-winning one-woman play Sometimes I Cry: The Loves, Lives and Losses of Women Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS.

1 Early life & career
2 Awards, Nominations and Special Recognition
- 2.1 Awards and Nominations
3 Special Recognition
4 Trivia
5 External Links
6 Notes

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Early life & career

Sheryl, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants Stanley and Ivy Ralph, was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1956. She divided her childhood between Long Island, New York and her parents' native Jamaica. Ralph won the title of Miss Black Teen-Age New York in 1973. She is the one of the first female graduates of Rutgers University, which was all-male until the year 1970. She is also the youngest graduate in the school's history, having earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at age 19. This led to Glamour magazine to naming Ralph one its Top Ten College women in America.

Ralph's first professional role was in the 1977 film A Piece of the Action with Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby. Ralph played (editing)

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Awards, Nominations and Special Recognition

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Awards and Nominations

1982 - Tony Awards

Nominated, Best Actress in a Musical, Dreamgirls

1982 - Drama Desk Awards

Nominated, Best Actress in a Musical, Dreamgirls

1990 - Independent Spirit Award

Best Supporting Actress, To Sleep With Anger

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Special Recognition

2002 - Inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni
2004 - Inducted as an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
2004 - Named as the official spokesperson of the National Minority AIDS Council
2005 - Recipient of the first Red Ribbon Leadership Award

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Trivia

Despite being the youngest female graduate in Rutgers' history, Sheryl skipped the graduation ceremony to audition for a Skippy peanut butter commercial. ^[2] She eventually donned the traditional cap and gown at Rutgers' 2003 commencement speech, which broadcast journalism legend Tom Brokaw hailed as "one of the best of the season".^[3]

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