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Veteran Sheryl Lee Ralph is no stranger to the spotlight and our television screens. The legendary actress, singer, author, activist, favorite sitcom mom, and original Dreamgirl has been shining in the entertainment industry for four decades. However, it wasn’t until she starred in ABC’s freshman sitcom ‘Abbott Elementary’, that she won her first Emmy for her flawless portrayal of Barbara Howard, a stern but kind, experienced kindergarten teacher.
Transcript
00:00No, this isn't pampered. This is work. This is what we do. And it is, it's part of the job.
00:06You have a great glam team. And as you can see, we've got Chante on the nails. We've got Myla
00:13here doing the makeup. We've got Morea and Christine on the hair. We've got the styling.
00:20We've got all the stylists. My daughter was styling me up until this point and is still
00:25putting the vision together. We've got Eche in the back with the gown. So this is all work.
00:32None of it is play.
00:39The excitement for me is beyond what you can imagine. I'm very happy. You know, it's, it's
00:46very interesting. It's not only my first Emmy nomination, it's my first invitation to the
00:52Emmys. My first time participating in the Emmys and doing it as a nominee is great. So I'm having
01:00the best time. You know something? I haven't so much written an acceptance speech, but I'm
01:06sure it'll be partly something that I have been preparing since I was a little girl, a little
01:12girl watching Tinkerbell swirl around that steeple. And these movies would come on on Sunday night
01:19and I would be transported into a place of dreams come true. You know, when you wish upon a star and
01:26all of that. And I believed all of it. So it just feels like my husband did say that to me yesterday.
01:34He said, you are living your dreams come true. And I said, yeah. And it's such a great, great feeling.
01:40One designer sent the same sketch to my cast member and me. And she just happened to be
01:47looking over my shoulder and said, that's what I'm wearing to the Emmys. And I was like, uh-huh.
01:53So you pivoted your look. Oh, did we pivot with such drastic shift between Jamie and Coco and calling
02:02Roberto, who worked with me on styling the cut, and then him calling somebody very special.
02:10In fact, somebody who's known for bags and not ready to wear at all. And that young artist came through
02:17in an amazing way. For us, I guess, I have to say, between Morea and my daughter, they had a vision.
02:26It was not my vision, but it was their vision. It was important to definitely have natural hair
02:33out, you know, my own hair. I had this dream about a wig slipping off. And I was just like,
02:39you know what, since I have hair, let's just use the natural hair. We want nothing dropping
02:45off of the head. So, ladies, what was the inspiration for the hair?
02:52Girl.
02:53It's a little sparkle with your favorite color.
02:55Bling is my favorite color. You got that right. Thank you. And the dress has to be
03:00supporting, just like me, as an actress. I love the accent color. I love the accent color.
03:07I love, um, I love that it's going to give what should be effortless glamour, style-less glamour,
03:17classic, evergreen. I like the fact that when I look at my closet, there's some things that
03:24I have from 10, 15, 20 years ago that if I put them on right now, they'd still be creating
03:31a style of their own. And it would be good. It would be timeless. So, I, I like that.
03:37Put in the work, darlings. Do the work. You know, make the effort to be your best artist. You know?
03:48Some people said, you know, well, this should have happened this, this time, that time, blah, blah, blah.
03:53No, no, no, no, no. Relax. Be open to the will of God and Goddess. And know that all things come
04:00in time. But it's really up to you to do the work. A lot of people don't do the work. They think,
04:08I'll just roll out of bed. Then, you know what, that might be good enough. But, as my immigrant
04:13mother would say, good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better best.
04:19Pace yourself. Pace yourself. Work hard to achieve balance. For me, I wasn't going to
04:26be happy just being a successful actress, just a working actress. I wanted to be a mother.
04:31I wanted to be somebody's wife. I wanted to be able to have the kind of impact on my community
04:39that other young people could look at and say, oh, I can do these things on my terms. I don't
04:45have to cheat myself or do this just because people say, this is what I have to do. I can
04:51hold on to my own voice and still rise to the occasion of my own life. You know, you and the
04:58aspect of everything you do is very important. How do you respect you? How do you love you?
05:03How do you show up for your family, for your people? How do you show up for yourself? All
05:08of that is very important. And I wanted young folks to know, look, I did it under some difficult
05:15situations. You all have Google. You all have everything that's going to make it much easier.
05:22You have 3D models to build the cornerstone and instead of having to work and shape yourself
05:27to be the cornerstone, you know, you can now make the cornerstone, you know, be the creator
05:33of the cornerstone and there's nothing you can't do. But you've got to put that work
05:39in. And legacy is important. Family needs legacy. Kids need legacy. Community needs legacy. People
05:47need legacy. They need to know that there's more in life than sometimes just suffering.
05:53The winner is just the cherry on the cake and it is a very beautiful, well-baked cake. And
05:59it is the flavor that I would choose. It is even the frosting that I would choose. And
06:03I don't like a whole lot of frosting, but we've got the cherry on the cake. But this group of
06:11people, this group of nominees, we're all winners. That is, it's a winning season. All of these young
06:19women, these young actresses that I am in this category with, we've already won. And life has changed
06:28in so many ways for us all in just a few weeks. And I'm loving it.
06:34To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't
06:45come true. I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving
06:54looks like. And don't you ever, ever give up on you.
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