Sheryl Lee Ralph launches scholarship program to assist University of the West Indies students
August 26, 2023
Keeping a promise to support University of the West Indies (UWI) students, award-winning actress/singer Sheryl Lee Ralph made her first donation during an intimate dinner in Toronto on August 16.
She handed over a $7,500 cheque to UWI Toronto Benefit Awards Co-Patron Donette Chin Loy Chang at Miss Likklemore’s restaurant.
Sheryl Lee Ralph (r) presents the cheque to UWI Toronto Benefit Awards Co-Chair Donette Chin Loy Chang (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The Emmy winner made the commitment after receiving a UWI Toronto Benefit Luminary Award last April.
She was unable to attend the event.
“To be bestowed with that award is just part of what has been one of the most spectacular years in my life,” she said. “It is quite the honour.”
Ralph launched the scholarship in her deceased parents’ names.
Ivy Ralph, a pioneer in Jamaica’s fashion industry who started a men’s fashion revolution after creating the two-piece kareeba suit (bush shirt and pants) for late Prime Minister Michael Manley, died in 2018 at age 90.
Dr. Stanley Ralph, who passed away in 2012 at age 81, was a college professor and musician who wrote and composed the nine-minute Connecticut Cantata, ‘The Nutmeg’.
“They believed so much in the power of education and what it means,” noted Rutgers University youngest female graduate at the time at age 19 in 1972. “My dad was a lifelong learner. Just the sound of the word education made him happy. He made it clear I could do whatever I wanted with my life after I graduated from college. That was it. He insisted education is the great equalizer and educated people are like tools to the world. He said when you expand your mind with what you find between book covers, the possibilities are endless.”
On her father’s desk was a five-word sign, ‘THINK’, which resonates with his daughter.
“That has stayed with me my whole life,” said Ralph who made her film screen debut in the 1977 comedy, ‘A Piece of the Action’, directed by Sidney Poitier.
Sheryl Lee Ralph in discussion with Toronto International Film Festival Chief Executive Officer Cameron Bailey over dinner in Toronto (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With extensive film credits, including ’Sister Act II’, ‘The Mighty Quinn’ and and ‘The Flinstones’, she played the role of Novelette, a brash nonsense woman, in the highly successful made for TV comedy drama, ‘Da Kink in My Hair’ that was aired in Canada in the fall of 2004.
Two years later, Ralph was back in Toronto for the African/Black Diaspora Stream that coincided with the 16th International AIDS conference.
The then Black AIDS Institute board director wrote ‘Sometimes I Cry’, a complex and thought-provoking show inspired by the real-life stories of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
It was first presented in December 2005 at the National Black Women and HIV/AIDS conference in Los Angeles.
“I have put together these stories that I have heard that have forever changed my life,” the American Film & Music Festival Founding Director said at the time.
Ralph, who started the Divinely Inspired Victoriously Award (DIVA) foundation in 1990 as a living memorial to the many friends she lost to HIV/AIDS, was the recipient of the United Nations inaugural Red Ribbon Award for her unique use of the arts in HIV/AIDS activism.
Sheryl Lee Ralph (l) with Tonya Williams who directed ‘Da Kink in My Hair’ for Vision TV in 2004 (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Since May 2 this year, the Writers Guild of America that represents nearly 11,500 people who write Hollywood shows and movies, has been on strike over an impasse on compensation, minimum staffing in writers' rooms, residual payments and other issues.
Ralph, who was among an elite group of Black women in film & television celebrated at the 16th annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood event last March, fully supports the strike.
“It is important that we keep count of the days since the strike started,” she said. “I am feeling good that there is unity. There is that saying that if you want to go fast, go alone and if you want to go far, go together. We are sticking it out together.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph (r) with ‘Da Kink in My Hair’ creator Trey Anthony (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The 1972 Miss Black Teenage New York Queen made it clear that the strike is about members wanting to get paid.
“We want to get paid a living wage,” said Ralph. “We want to have a right to our bodies. You don’t get to own that in perpetuity. We get to do that. When it comes to residuals, stop all of this saying you can hold on to an artist for six or 12 episodes. Who is going to make a living off 12 episodes and then you don’t want to give residuals. If you are making $50 million a year, certainly somebody can squeeze a little bit out for the artists for those who get in front of the camera and make the magic. That is what we want.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph is on the frontlines leading the fight for fair pay in her industry (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
She said the majority of union members are hardworking people who have not received a pay raise in nearly four decades.
“It is not about the top 10 per cent or even the top one per cent,” Ralph added. “It is about the 80 per cent of our union that is not making $25,000 a year. It is about those people that cannot qualify for health insurance. That is what this is about. The fight must stay until people realize we are valuable to this industry.”
On July 16, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television & Radio Arts (SAG-AFTRA) joined WGA members on the picket lines effectively halting much of film and television production.
It has been quite the year for Ralph.
Last September, the stage and screen star won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in ‘Abbott Elementary’. She is just the second Black Actress to capture an Emmy in that category after Jackee Harry in 1987 for her role in ‘227’.
A month later, Ralph was bestowed with the Order of Jamaica. She was the second member of her family to receive a national award from Jamaica after her mom who was invested with the Order of Distinction in 1999 for outstanding contribution to the promotion of fashion for export.
Jamaica’s Governor General Patrick Allen presents the Order of Jamaica to Sheryl Lee Ralph (Photo contributed)
In February, Ralph sang ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ at the National Football League Super Bowl in Phoenix. The recipient of an honourary doctorate from her alma mater last May will receive a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.
“This is fantastic,” noted Ralph who was inducted into the Institute of Caribbean Studies Wall of Fame in 2018. “Can you believe it will be laid in stone? There will be my art, my name and my accomplishments for years to come and for millions to see. Now I just hope we get a good placement.”
What is the secret to her longevity and success?
“Good living,” was the quick response. “I stay as positive as I can and I live my life to love myself in the best way possible. The Great Drag Queen (RuPaul) says if you can’t love yourself, how in the world are you going to love anybody else. That is the truth.”
