ABOUT Sheryl Lee Ralph

Original DREAMGIRL, Sheryl Lee Ralph is an acclaimed veteran of film, television and the Broadway stage.
Her award winning body of work includes creating and originating the role of Deena Jones on Broadway in the landmark musical Dreamgirls, which earned her both a Tony and Drama Desk Award Nomination for Best Actress. After Dreamgirls, Ms. Ralph turned her attention to music, television and film. She scored a top-ten selling dance hit in the mid-eighties with the infectious anthem In the Evening andagain in the nineties with her remake of Here comes the Rain Again.

On television, Sheryl Lee has starred in It's a Living, her own series New Attitude, the George Foreman series George and in the hit comedy Designing Women. She was also voted one of TV's Favorite Moms for her portrayal of step mom Dee on the number-one rated television series Moesha. She broke new ground In the SHOWTIME series, Barbershop, as the popular, post-operative transsexual, Claire. Recently, Sheryl brought a new face to the sufferings of war in the NBC hit series ER.

Her extensive film credits include Sister Act II with Whoopi Goldberg, The Flintstones with Rosie O'Donell, The Mighty Quinn with Denzel Washington, Mistress with Robert De Niro, and Eddie Murphy's Distinguished Gentleman. Sheryl Lee's performance with Danny Glover in To Sleep with Anger won her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress.

As a producer, Ms. Ralph created the critically acclaimed Divas Simply Singing!, an evening of song and entertainment that has become one of the most highly anticipated AIDS benefits in Hollywood. She is also the founding creator of The Jamerican Film & Music Festival which in five years has given birth to five SHOWTIME Filmmaker Finalists.

Sheryl Lee has found new success in writing and directing with her award-winning film short Secrets. With an all-star cast that includes Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard, Tina Lifford, Victoria Rowell, La Tanya Richardson, Robin Givens and Ralph herself. Secrets was a finalist in the HBO Film Short Competition, Showtime Filmmakers Series, Acapulco Black Film Festival, Hollywood Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Urban World Film Festival and an audience favorite at Outfest Film Festival.

Following on the success of Divas Simply Singing, Ms. Ralph has added a one-woman show Sometimes I Cry, to her list of credits. Written, directed and performed by Ms. Ralph, this complex and thought-provoking play, illustrates the heartbreaking, yet inspiring real life stories of culturally diverse women whose lives unravel as they cope with their HIV/AIDS reality. Ralph uses her remarkable talent to poignantly bring these women to life in a way that touches the heart leaving audiences deeply moved and encouraged to know their status.

Met with an extraordinary outpouring of love and acceptance after its initial performance at the National Black Women and HIV/AIDS Conference in Los Angeles in 2005, Sometimes I Cry, continues to be performed in the US and abroad.

Mother of two, Sheryl Lee Ralph loves every moment of raising her children. Recently married to State Senator Vincent Hughes of Pennsylvania in what Entertainment Tonight called, "The most elegant and romantic wedding of the summer!" she acknowledges that love is the greatest gift to be given and shared.

ABOUT Gloria Loring

A consummate singer and entertainer, Gloria Loring is the recording artist of the #1 hit song Friends and Lovers; co-composer of television theme songs for Diff’rent Strokes and Facts Of Life; an audience favorite from daytime TV’s Days Of Our Lives; spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; author of four books, including her new release, Living With Type 2 Diabetes: Moving Past the Fear; inspirational speaker; and one of the few artists to sing two nominated songs at the Academy Awards. Gloria Loring’s energy, commitment and joy are absolutely contagious.

Gloria is currently on a press tour for her new book, which included an appearance on The View where she spoke and sang about her commitment to raise awareness and help people with diabetes and other chronic diseases. She just recorded a great new version of Peggy Lee's classic, "Fever" with saxophone phenomenon Jimmy Sommers, and hosted and sang on a PBS special live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In a recent appearance of classic rock and blues at The Music Box @ the Honda in Hollywood, she received six standing ovations. Performing at Sheryl Lee Ralph's annual Divas Simply Singing, she stopped the show cold and was booked for the next year before the curtain came down. In addition, she has recorded her first meditation CD, Body, Breath and Mind, launched a new production company, "Maybe It's Today," and is developing More Friends, More Lovers, a recording of duets and ballads in honor of the 20th Anniversary of Friends and Lovers.

With nine albums to her credit, Loring has performed in concert all over North America and Australia. Her performances prompt reviews from critics, such as the one written by Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times, “She told stories with the panache of Lena Horne, sang torch songs like Judy Garland, and scatted with the rhythmic thrust of a young Ella Fitzgerald. She did all of this with one of the best vocal instruments in pop music since the salad days of Barbra Streisand.” Gloria has shared the stage with George Carlin, Billy Crystal, Bill Cosby and Al Jarreau. She’s starred in musicals, movies of the week and television specials, and has hosted television shows and live events.

On the lecture circuit, Gloria speaks from a diverse menu of topics and programs, ranging from health and business to entertainment and spirituality. Gloria is known as a fierce advocate for those living with chronic illness. She is an accredited yoga instructor and an articulate champion of bio-medical research. When her son was diagnosed with diabetes at age four, she created and self-published two volumes of the Days Of Our Lives Celebrity Cookbook. Those books, along with her recording A Shot in the Dark, raised more then one million dollars for diabetes research.

She followed that success with two commercially published books, Kids, Food and Diabetes and Parenting a Child with Diabetes. Her newest book, Living with Type 2 Diabetes: Moving Past the Fear, written with Dr. Timothy Gray, has just been released by M Press. She was also just honored with the Founders Award from the National Disease Research Interchange for her lifetime work in diabetes.

Honored with the Lifetime Commitment Award from JDRF and the 1999 Woman of Achievement Award from the Miss America Organization, Loring is listed in the World Who’s Who of Women and Who’s Who in America. She is married to Emmy Award-winning art director and production designer, René Lagler.