12 Quick Questions for Sheryl Lee Ralph

Sheryl Lee Ralph, who burst onto the Broadway scene in her role as Deena Jones in the original run of the musical Dreamgirls, has found prime-time success. After 45 years in show business, the 65-year-old Tony nominee and former star of Broadway’s Wicked is now an Emmy-award winner for her role as veteran kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard on ABC’s hit show Abbott Elementary.

Is there a teacher who inspires your role?

My Auntie Caroline is a teacher in D.C.; my brother Stanley is a special ed teacher in Albany; my sister-in-law, Andrea, is a teacher turned principal; my dad broke the color line back in Connecticut when he was a young man [music teacher]; my niece Yanna just told me she has received the calling and has been accepted into NYU to further her master’s and doctorate program in teaching. So I am surrounded by educators.

Sheryl Lee Ralph stars in the ABC TV series “Abbott Elementary.”

Gilles Mingasson/ABC via Getty Images

Why act, not teach?

I was much better at it. I always knew I was going to be an actor. If I wasn’t going to be an actor, I was going to be a doctor or lawyer because that’s what my mother told me — and if I couldn’t be a doctor or a lawyer, then I should just marry one. I said, “You know what? I will just play one and that will be so much better.” That has worked for me in a wonderful way.

You’ve called Sidney Poitier your inspiration. How so?

He cast me in my very first movie [1977’s A Piece of the Action]. He was an incredible mentor to me. He very much tried to encourage me to stay in a business that did not have enough to offer me. He felt very bad for me. He sent me away with great tools.

Abbott Elementary gets all the love but you’re also on another show. Tell me more about that.

It’s a series I love, Motherland: Fort Salem. It is all about the femme power: The world is completely changed, women are in power, women are leading. I play the 45th president in an alternative world. This is a series that in about a year or two, people are going to discover it and say, “How in the world did we miss this show? How did that happen?”

In a very long career, what dominates your memory?

I’ll never, ever, ever forget the hand that I had in creating and bringing Deena Jones to life in Dreamgirls, in the original Broadway company of Dreamgirls. I will never, ever forget Florence Watkins, Sister Act 2. I’ll never forget A Piece of the Action with Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby. I will never, ever forget Abbott Elementary and Barbara Howard. I’ll never forget Claudette in Ray Donovan. I’ll never, ever forget what I’ve been able to do in every generation that has kept me relevant. I have no favorite because they’re all basically a rung on the ladder.

What’s your personality trait that you are most proud of?

I see talent, whatever that might be. I am able to see people’s strengths. I don’t know why, but I can see that and I like that.

Is there a personality trait you are least proud of?

Nope. I like myself just the way I am. I take myself just as I am. I work through my ups and my downs, and that’s that. If anything, it’s hard for other people because I usually, like Barbara Howard, say what I mean and mean what I say.

You’re cast as 'the elder' on Abbott Elementary. How do you find that role?

I’m very happy that I am that elder, the wise one that they respect. When Barbara Howard speaks, people sit up straight. When she gives the side-eye, people receive the message, and she doesn’t have to say anything. I love it. In fact, the side-eye is my love language.