Quinta Brunson delivers speech at Sheryl Lee Ralph's Walk of Fame ceremony
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00:00You guys. Let me focus. This is a really big deal. Like it's monumental. I have never seen people so excited for someone to get a star. As they should be. But that just is heartwarming to see alone. Let me stick to the script because they keep saying it's in front of the world. So I want to do a really good job.
00:26We are here to honor the honorable Cheryl Lee Ralph. She's getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because she should be. I don't know anyone else who embodies the word star more. And if we're going to give these out, it's nice to see them go to true stars.
00:50People with long, incredible careers. People who have the ability to influence a room if they are alone. And people who have made a mark on this world. People like Cheryl.
01:02She began her career in the 1970s standing out in the film A Piece of the Action directed by the legendary Sidney Poitier.
01:09From day one, Cheryl was here to stay. She made a mark in the movie that made people everywhere take notice and go,
01:14Who is that? I need to see more. A star.
01:20From then on, she made numerous appearances on television.
01:22Ones I didn't even know about. The other day I was in Italy watching the Jeffersons dubbed in Italian.
01:27And Cheryl pops on the screen.
01:30Crazy. Thought I was dreaming.
01:33Talking about some child Mrs. Jefferson.
01:35I was like, what?
01:35And it was really funny because the Italian dubber was trying to get the tenor of Cheryl's voice.
01:43But she couldn't do it.
01:45And who of us can?
01:46I try to do a Cheryl impression often.
01:48Yeah, Cheryl, you're right. She's getting a star.
01:50That's amazing.
01:54By the way, in the Jefferson, she was looking the exact same as she does today.
02:00Aiding in the online theories that she's also a vampire.
02:03A conspiracy I can't technically debunk.
02:07I have no proof that she's aging.
02:10Anyway, little did I know that was her very first TV appearance.
02:14Almost three years before her game-changing role as Dina Jones in the iconic Broadway play Dream Girls.
02:19I could go through Cheryl's entire IMDb, starting with the roles that were important to me,
02:23like her appearances in The Flintstones and her voice acting in Oliver and Company.
02:28I could make a meal out of her changing the lives of Gen Xers and Millennials everywhere
02:34as Florence Watson in Sister Act 2 telling us that singing doesn't put food on the table
02:40while simultaneously being nominated for ponies on the side.
02:44I could talk for days about her coming into my home every week
02:51to help take care of a real piece of work named Moesha
02:54as the stern but loving Dee Mitchell,
02:57becoming a TV mom to black girls and black boys everywhere.
03:01But I don't have to because I get to tell you about the experience
03:05that is the star of Cheryl day-to-day, season-to-season on Abbott Elementary.
03:12I can hear Cheryl beautifully humming a song in the morning
03:16as she readies herself in the dressing room next to mine.
03:20I watch as she enters the trailer with a smile and a laugh
03:23as if it's 5.30 p.m. instead of 5.30 a.m.
03:27I watch her help make little actors out of the children who star on our show
03:31by giving them tips to enunciate and to remember that being an actor
03:35is a job and an honor, not just something you get to do because you're cute.
03:43I can always count on Cheryl to be the actual star that people want to see.
03:49I tend to hide on the Warner Brothers lot when the cart comes by
03:53because in reality I'm a little shy and I want to just get to makeup.
03:56But Cheryl, Cheryl sings to the people.
04:03She asks them, how was your trip to Hollywood so far?
04:07And she tells them to stream Abbott while giving them a smile
04:10brighter than the Hollywood sign itself, one they will never forget.
04:15Sometimes she doesn't even have her wig on yet
04:17and she is giving these people the show of a lifetime.
04:22She is an experience.
04:24To be around her is to be around Hollywood history, grace, and legend.
04:29She is a masterclass in what it means to be an eternal and consistent diva.
04:35She commands the room and gives you a show.
04:38She is who you came to see.
04:40And she is our star.
04:42I love you, Cheryl.
04:44Congratulations.
04:45Congratulations.
04:45Congratulations.