Years active 1995–present Role Comedienne Religion Christianity Height 1.55 m | Website www.sherrishepherd.com Upcoming movie Ride Along 2 Name Sherri Shepherd | |
![]() | ||
Full Name Sherri Evonne Shepherd Occupation AuthorActressTelevision personalitycomedian Spouse Lamar Sally (m. 2011), Jeff Tarpley (m. 2001–2010) Children Jeffrey Charles Tarpley, Lamar Sally, Jr. Movies and TV shows The View, Sherri, Less than Perfect, The Newlywed Game, Precious Similar People Profiles |
Sherri Shepherd at the 46th Annual Dove Awards Comedy Show
Sherri Shepherd’s Embarrassing Date Story
Sherri Evonne Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author and television personality. She first became recognized for recurring roles on the sitcoms Suddenly Susan, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Jamie Foxx Show before starring as Ramona Platt on the ABC sitcom Less than Perfect from 2002 to 2006, for which she was well received and was nominated for the BET Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2005.
Contents
- Sherri Shepherd at the 46th Annual Dove Awards Comedy Show
- Sherri Shepherds Embarrassing Date Story
- Early life
- Businesswoman
- Acting
- Television personality
- On camera flubs
- Author
- Dancing with the Stars
- Charity
- Personal life
- Awards and nominations
- References

From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host on The View, for which she received multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 2009. In 2009, she starred in a sitcom of her own on Lifetime, Sherri, which was cancelled after one season, and also published the novel Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break. Shepherd also hosts Nickelodeon's NickMom Night Out special, and has appeared on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical production of Cinderella. In 2012, she appeared as a celebrity contestant on the fourteenth season of Dancing with the Stars.

Early life

Shepherd was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of LaVerne (d. 1991) and Lawrence A. Shepherd (born c. 1947), a church deacon. She is the eldest of three sisters.
Businesswoman

As of 2015, a project includes a line of wigs and hair add-ins.
Acting

In 2009, she starred for one season in Lifetime Television's Sherri, a sitcom about Shepherd's life.

Shepherd appeared as a guest host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. She played Daphne in several episodes of How I Met Your Mother.
Television personality
In 2006, Shepherd was a frequent guest co-host on ABC's The View. She was a permanent co-host from 2007 to 2014. She received several awards for her work on the show. Since leaving The View in 2014, Shepherd has continued to make several appearances on the show as a guest host and "lead contributor" throughout 2015 and 2016.
She co-hosted the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008.
On-camera flubs
Shepherd was criticized after one 2007 broadcast of The View. The show was often filmed "live", with little or no editing. She stated that she didn't "believe in evolution. Period." Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked her, "Is the world flat?" She first responded, "I don't know," and expanded that she "never thought about it". Shepherd continued that it was more important to her that she thought about how she was "going to feed [her] child". Barbara Walters replied by pointing out, "You can do both." However, Shepherd then went on to quote Scripture. Shepherd later referred to her statement as a "brain fart" brought on by nerves. Barbara Walters and Shepherd talked after that episode: Walters said, "Dear, the Earth is round", and Shepherd responded with: "Barbara, I know that!"
Similar criticism erupted after the December 4, 2007, broadcast of The View when, during a discussion initiated by Joy Behar about Epicurus, Shepherd attempted to assert that Christians existed in classical Greece, and that the Greeks threw them to the lions. When confronted on this point, she further claimed that "Jesus came first" (before Greeks and Romans) and stated, "I don't think anything predated Christians", to which Joy Behar responded: "The Jews."
Shepherd garnered ridicule after admitting to never voting partly due to her upbringing as a strict Jehovah's Witness. She was quoted as saying that she just "never knew the dates or anything"; she stated, "I've never voted for anything in my life." In January 2008, Sherri referred to Gospel singer Shirley Caesar as "the black Patti LaBelle." LaBelle, like Caesar, is black.
Sherri said, "I was taught not to confront and interrupt people, but that's what I do every day on The View."
Author
Shepherd wrote the book Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break, published in October 2009. Shepherd also has a co-author credit on Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes, published in 2013.
Dancing with the Stars
In March 2012, Shepherd participated as a celebrity contestant on the fourteenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Her dance partner was Val Chmerkovskiy. The team lasted several weeks.
Charity
Sherri raises funds for the YAI Sherri Shepherd "Believe in Abilities" Fund.
YAI organization encourages autistic and developmentally challenged children to participate in life.
Fundraising efforts include asking members to donate unused AMEX Membership Rewards points.
In 2011, Shepherd offered to pay six months' rent and utilities of homeless former American Gladiators star Debbie Clark (Storm).
Personal life
Shepherd was previously married to Jeff Tarpley. Their son Jeffrey was delivered prematurely.
TV writer Lamar Sally proposed to Shepherd on December 26, 2010. They married in August 2011 at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, and in September 2012, Shepherd said the couple was searching for a surrogate in order to have a child. Sally filed for separation on May 2, 2014, and Shepherd filed for divorce days later. In July 2014, Sally petitioned a Los Angeles court for full legal and physical custody of the child expected via surrogacy, who was born in August 2014. On April 21, 2015, a Pennsylvania court ruled Shepherd is the legal parent of a child born from a surrogate mother. The child has no DNA link to Shepherd.
Shepherd has type 2 diabetes after having had pre-diabetes for years.
Shepherd is a devout Christian.
Awards and nominations
Daytime Emmy Award and Nominations
People's Choice Award Nomination
Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award Nomination
Boston Society of Film Critics Award
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Nomination
Black Reel Award Nomination
BET Comedy Award Nomination
NAACP Image Awards and Nominations
Braveheart Award