Sheryl Lee Ralph ‘Prayed’ For Her Role on ‘Abbott Elementary’
Veteran actor Sheryl Lee Ralph stars in the hit comedy series Abbott Elementary as the good-mannered teacher Mrs. Barbara Howard. Ralph has been an actor for decades, and for her, the role on Abbott Elementary was a dream come true — and a long time coming.
Sheryl Lee Ralph wanted to play the principal on ‘Abbott Elementary’ instead of Mrs. Howard
While fans know and love her as Mrs. Howard on Abbott Elementary, she almost didn’t end up with the role. When show creator Quinta Brunson sent Ralph the script for the series’ pilot, Ralph gravitated toward the character of unserious principal Ava Coleman (played in the series by comedian Janelle James).
Ralph spoke about the role in a July 2022 interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show.
“I love Barbara Howard!” she said of her character. “I thank Quinta Brunson all the time for the gift of Barbara Howard, and for knocking me back in my place when I said, ‘But I want to play Ava! I want to play the principal!’ And she was like, ‘Absolutely not.’”
The show’s hosts told Ralph that she wouldn’t have been a good fit to play the principal, as she’s often tone-deaf in her shenanigans. “That’s why I wanted to be tone-deaf — because people can’t see me that way!” Ralph answered. “And I would say, ‘Now this would be great to conquer that for people to see.’”
She ‘prayed’ for a show like ‘Abbott Elementary’
Ralph then recounted how the role of Barbara Howard even came to her, and how she was hoping a show like Abbott Elementary would come along one day.
“I shoot a drama at the same time that I ended up shooting Abbott Elementary, and it was called Motherland: Fort Salem,” she remembered. “We shoot this one-camera show in Canada in the winter. It was cold. I was standing up there in my little summer outfit in the winter in this airport hangar, and stuff was just happening. And I started praying. I said, ‘God, could you just give me a socially relevant show? Can you give me four cameras please? Can you give me a whole bunch of people that I cannot wait to see and I’m happy to leave, because I know I’ll come back and see them the next day, God. And oh, if you want to be nice to me, throw in some children.’ Because when you have children on a set, you literally have a life. Because children have to go home! And if you’re in a scene with the children, you go home too!”
“Well, I prayed, as my hands were freezing,” Ralph continued. “I went home. And I got a call from Quinta Brunson to read this script.”
“I read the script and I said, ‘God, stop messing with me, God! Stop messing with me! Because you did not just serve up to me exactly what I asked you for with kids included!’” she said to herself at the time. “I was like, ‘Hallelujah! Amen!’”
Sheryl Lee Ralph won an Emmy for her ‘Abbott Elementary’ role
Barbara Howard was truly a gift for Sheryl Lee Ralph. After decades of appearing in TV shows, Ralph won her first-ever Emmy Award in 2022 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
“To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like. And don’t you ever, ever give up on you,” she said triumphantly in her acceptance speech. Ralph is only the second Black woman to win in the category after Jackée Harry won for 227 back in 1987.
