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Sherri Shepherd is sitting in a stylist's chair in a Hollywood photographer's studio while her makeup artist, Bernadette, applies foundation, and her hair stylist, Michael, combs out her wig. I'm getting a behind-the-scenes peek as Sherri, the costar of ABC television's Tuesday-night sitcom, Less Than Perfect, submits to what she laughingly calls "the ordeal" that transforms her into the personality most people recognize from her screen and stage appearances.
Between dabs of mascara and lip liner, Sherri, 36, tells me about an encounter she had with a fan during the belated honeymoon cruise she and her husband of three years, actor/comedian Jeff Tarpley, took recently. "She came up to me, hugged me, and started crying," Sherri explains. "She told me she and her husband, who had died a few months earlier, watched reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond every night. My recurring character, Sgt. Judy Potter, the partner of police officer Robert Barone, was her favorite—and she knew every scene! So I'm inviting her out to L.A. to spend some time with me and meet actor Brad Garrett, who plays Robert."
As a committed Christian in Hollywood, Sherri loves to see how her gift of humor makes a positive impact on people's lives. But her humor wasn't always so uplifting. In 1990, this one-time legal secretary with an attitude began performing stand-up routines during open-mike nights at comedy clubs throughout Los Angeles. Sherri's comedy was born out of her personal pain. But after she turned her life over to Christ in 1993, her magnetic personality and saucy humor soon landed her a string of roles on sitcoms that included NBC's Suddenly Susan and Emeril, CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond, and now Less Than Perfect, in which she plays office worker Ramona Platt. In this exclusive interview, Sherri shares her tumultuous spiritual journey and gives us a glimpse at the challenges of being a believer in the entertainment industry.
You look great! It must be fun to see yourself transformed.
Well, for me, having my makeup done is a drag. But I prayed to become an actress, and this is what comes with the territory. But when I see myself on television, I say, "Lord, thank you I went through 'the ordeal.'"
When the TCW photo shoot's done, I'll feel as though I should go to some red-carpet event. Instead, I'll go home, wash off all the makeup, and watch Judge Judy on television!
So real life isn't so glamorous?
Ha! There's a team of people who make me look a certain way. What I look like on TV is so not who I really am.
Is it hard to stay grounded as a Christian in Hollywood?
It can be hard, because you're always battling your ambition. Sometimes your desire to be successful gets in the way, and you have to remember what God's called you to do.
And what has he called you to do?
For each cast I'm part of, God has an assignment for me. For instance, when I worked on Emeril, I felt God tell me to talk to well-known actor Robert Urich. I said, "Father, can't you send somebody on the same level to talk to him? I don't even know what to say to this man!"
Robert Urich was suffering from cancer, and I gave him a couple Scriptures to read. He came back the next day and said, "I looked them up in my family Bible. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but it just helps to talk to you." Bob died six or seven months later.
I've come to realize this job isn't about fame; it's about reaching people for God that a person working at the bank may never be able to reach.
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