I persisted.
Every time somebody tried to break my spirit,
I was like — you know that Beyoncé song? "You won't break my soul.
You won't break my soul."
I mean, that was me from day one.
I tell people all the time, it took me 40 years
to become an overnight sensation.
I am here to tell you
that this is what believing looks like.
My first film was with Sidney Poitier,
and I'll never forget, he said, "Sheryl Lee Ralph,
I expect great things from you."
There were quite a few plateaus —
OK, there were quite a few valleys.
But it was always about making
that rise.
At the beginning of my journey as an actress,
a Black actress in Hollywood, it was very difficult.
I cannot tell you how many times people wanted to tell you
what they thought about you and your Blackness.
One producer, I went to work,
I did the table read.
I went home, and I had been fired.
And when I called and I asked "why?"
they said, "Well, to tell you the truth,
you're just not Black enough."
And then I remember coming back to Hollywood
after a very successful run of "Dreamgirls" on Broadway,
and the big-time Hollywood casting director looked at me and he said,
"Well, everybody knows you're a beautiful, talented Black girl,
but what do I do with a beautiful, talented Black girl?
Do I put you in a movie with Tom Cruise?
Does he kiss you?
Who goes to see that movie?"
I can't even say it. I mean, my God.
And I thought to myself, Wow,
they're really trying to break me here, break my spirit.
But I walked out of that interview, and I had to rethink what he said to me.
And I said, Wait a minute.
Everybody knows I'm a beautiful, talented Black girl and I should be
in a movie with the likes of Tom Cruise and he should kiss me.
And I said, Yeah, that's right.
Here we go.
My parents did such a good job
of preparing me to get over hurdles.
I tested out of public school,
and I was the only Black person in one of those fancy little private schools.
And some of the terrible things that people said to you —
and I mean, not just the kids, but the adults, too.
But when I cried, my mother sat me
in front of the mirror and said, "Do you see an N-word?
Do you see an ugly monkey?
What do you see?"
Hey. And I've learned to look in that mirror and love what
I see.
"The Jeffersons"
was my first TV job, and I played Mr. Jefferson's secretary.
It ain't my anniversary — is it?
I'm afraid so.
Oh, damn. I missed the last two. Three.
And I have to tell you that he and I stayed in touch my whole career.
In fact, the last job he did, we did together.
I'll be waiting in the car.
I got "Designing Women" because I went after it.
Oh, I like you, Mary Jo.
You're so focused.
I put together this big fundraiser,
and in walks the man that I know
is one of the producers of "Designing Women."
And I walked right up to him, and I said, "Why does Anthony
not have a good relationship with a Black woman in Atlanta?
I think you need a Black actress on that show."
Well, he peeled my hands off of his lapel, and he said, "Call my people.
Set up an interview, and we'll see what we can do."
That's how I got that job.
When I look back at those shows, the jobs that I got,
what it took at times to get them.
I think to myself, My God, you had a lot of guts.
I was determined not to give up
even when the industry was trying to tell me there was no room for me.
Nobody was going to break my soul, they weren't going to break my spirit
because I've been learning how to do this my whole life.
Took them a while.
But guess what?
They found me.
Yes, they did.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
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Yeah.