Sheryl Lee Ralph has a simple message for the world: “You are so worthy.”
In an interview with HuffPost, the acclaimed actor declared that, in 2025, “It’s just not good enough to be alive. You’ve got to thrive.”
“We live in a world that is consumed by youth,” Ralph, 68, said. “At some point, wisdom must come into play, and hopefully, with that wisdom, the things that you’ve learned are going to enable you to thrive.”
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Ralph spoke to HuffPost while promoting THRIVE@50+, a campaign from pharmaceutical company GSK aimed at educating older adults about the risks of shingles.
The “Abbott Elementary” star has a core message she wants everyone to hear.
“You are so worthy,” she said. “You are so important.”
“If you are not here tomorrow, something will change for someone,” she continued. “It might not be somebody that you know, but they might miss the smile you gave them in the morning coming through the door. Do everything you can to not just survive, but thrive in this life because you are worth it and so much more.”
She also had a tip for people who might have trouble taking her advice to heart.
“Look in the mirror, and it might not be true, but say, ‘I woke up like this.’ Live your life to the best of your ability because you’re worth it.”
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Ralph’s journey to her sense of worth has included challenges.
Growing up, Ralph said, there were many factors that made it hard to “love yourself.”
“I had to survive. When I heard Dr. King talk about the dream, I knew, in my young mind, I had to fulfill the dream,” she said passionately, bringing up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Now, she said, “I am deserving, I am a miracle and I won’t stop. I’m the ancestors’ wildest dream.”
Ralph recalled being told as a child that she didn’t fit the current beauty standard.
“I remember being so sad one day looking in the mirror,” she remembered. “I felt so defeated because I was listening to what everybody else was saying and it changed when I heard my own voice, and I chose me.”
“The biggest risk I’ve taken in Hollywood is believing in me,” she said.
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The journey also wasn’t one she took on alone. The “Moesha” actor reflected on the guidance and encouragement she’s received from a number of distinguished mentors over the years.
After her first movie, 1977’s “A Piece of the Action,” co-star Sidney Poitier said that he expected nothing but “great things” from her and gave her the tools she would need to survive in Hollywood and “take care of herself,” she said.
She also recalled sitting on a plane, along with her son and daughter, next to actor Cicely Tyson.
Tyson turned to her and said, “Sheryl Lee Ralph, you will do many wonderful things, but you see those two children, those will probably be the two greatest things in your whole life.”
And finally, she recalled poet Maya Angelou telling her, “When I hear you speak, it makes everything I have gone through worth it.”
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Ralph also credited her career momentum to the people who have championed her, including “Abbott Elementary” creator Quinta Brunson.
“Quinta Brunson knew my work,” Ralph said. “A young woman, almost half my age said, ‘Ms. Ralph I see you. Come take this journey with me.’”
The hit ABC sitcom has just been renewed for a fifth season, and Ralph joked that she isn’t satisfied because she wants it to have sixth and seventh seasons, too.
Kidding aside, Ralph said the news “feels great.”
“Five is what you want. You want 100 episodes,” Ralph said. “Because then it goes into syndication.”