Sheryl Lee Ralph is Helping Tell Real Stories of Black Women Living With HIV
With her exuberant energy and ageless beauty, it’s hard to believe that the career of legendary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has now spanned over 45 years — and that she’s been an HIV advocate for nearly as long.
After Ralph’s first big break in the 1977 film A Piece of the Action, she made her Broadway debut in 1981, originating the iconic Deena Jones in Dreamgirls (a role for which Ralph earned a Tony nomination and was later played by Beyoncé in the 2006 film version).
Since then, Ralph has literally never stopped working and has appeared in dozens of movies, TV shows, and stage productions including Sister Act 2, Moesha, Barbershop, and To Sleep With Anger.
Unfortunately, just when her career started to explode in the early ’80s, so did the AIDS epidemic — and Ralph witnessed firsthand the suffering and devastating loss of life in those dark early days.
