Click here for Greater Long Island newsletters. Click here to download the iPhone app.
Emmy Award-winning actress and Uniondale High School alumna Sheryl Lee Ralph was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday.
Ralph, who graduated from Uniondale High School in 1972, received her star in the Television category, and the event was streamed live.
Born in Waterbury, Conn., as the daughter of a college professor and Jamaican fashion designer, Ralph was raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island, the Walk of Fame announcement reads.
She has spoken often over her career about the formative impact of her upbringing in New York.
Recently, in a March 2024 cover story for Self magazine, Ralph reflected on tine growing up in the Town of Hempstead, and discussed how her early exposure to accomplished Black professionals shaped her confidence and career.
“When people would tell kids in school, especially Black kids, what they could and couldn’t do, I was so aware that these people didn’t know what they were talking about because I had already seen all of the Black doctors, all of the Black ministers, all of the Black teachers, and people who owned and ran their own schools,” she told Self.
Ralph went on to win Miss Black Teenage New York in 1973 and became the youngest woman to ever graduate from Rutgers University at 19.
These days, she’s best known as veteran teacher Barbara Howard on ABC’s hit show Abbott Elementary — a role that earned her an Emmy in 2022, along with Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe nods. The show is already renewed for its fifth season.
She also starred in Broadway’s Dreamgirls as Deena Jones, and on the big screen in Sister Act 2 (1993) and The Mighty Quinn (1989).
Many will also remember her as Dee Mitchell alongside Brandy on the WB’s Moesha as well.
Ralph has also a force behind the scenes, founding The DIVA Foundation to raise health awareness through the arts.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is maintained by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and is among Los Angeles’ most visited landmarks.
— Hollywood Walk of Fame courtesy photos
