Bio: Born on December 30, 1956 in Waterbury, CT to Jamaican Parents Sheryl Lee Ralph has graced the silver screen, the Broadway stage and TV screens and become one of the most recognizable faces from the Caribbean. Sheryl was raised between Long Island, New York and Mandeville Jamaica. Her original intention was to become a doctor, and encounter with a cadaver during a pre-med anatomy course led her to quickly switch her major to English Literature with a minor in theater arts. She graduated Rutgers University at the age of 19 (the youngest female graduate) and was named in the top 10 College women in America by Glamour magazine.
She made her professional debut in the Sidney Poitier/Bill Cosby comic action yarn "A Piece of the Action" (1977). Shortly after she found herself on the Broadway stage first in the musical “reggae”, but her breakthrough role would come later after earning a Tony-nomination for her portrayal of Deena Jones in the musical Dreamgirls. Lee-Ralph would soon return to film to co-star with Eddie Murphy in the Distinguished Gentleman and with Robert Townsend in The Mighty Quinn that was filmed in Jamaica. She has appeared in several other films including Sister Act 2, The Flintstones and Sister Act 2. In 1991 she won the "Independent Spirit Award" for Best Supporting Actress To Sleep With Anger.
In the 1990’s she found immense popularity on Television of which her role as the mother of Moesha (played by Brandy) in the UPN series also titled Brandy. She has been called “one of the most important AIDS fundraisers in Hollywood”, and she is also the founder of the annual Jamerican Film Festival a four day festival to showcase International and Jamaican talent called "One of the Top Ten Film Festivals in the World"
by E! Entertainment TV.
Afiwi.com's complete profile on Sheryl Lee Ralph
back to the Caribbean Hall of Fame Home