Sherri Shepherd

Sherri Evonne Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, and television personality. She has appeared in several TV shows in recurring roles, and starred 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.

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. In 2012, she appeared as a celebrity contestant on the fourteenth season of Dancing with the Stars. Shepherd started hosting the game show Best Ever Trivia Show on the Game Show Network on June 10, 2019.

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.

Career
Shepherd first became recognized for recurring roles on the sitcoms Suddenly Susan, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Jamie Foxx Show in the late 1990s, before starring in the show Less Than Perfect in the lead role of Ramona Platt from 2002–2006. From 2007 – 2013, she had a recurring role as Angie, the wife of character Tracy Jordan, on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. In 2009, she starred for one season in Lifetime Television's Sherri, a sitcom about Shepherd's life. She played Daphne in several episodes of How I Met Your Mother in 2013. As of 2017, Shepherd plays Anne Flatch in NBC's mockmumentary legal-comedy series Trial & Error.

In addition to her film and television work, Shepherd appeared on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical production of Cinderella in 2013.

Television personality
Shepherd has appeared as a guest host and contestant on several television shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Rachael Ray, and To Tell The Truth. Shepherd also hosted Nickelodeon's NickMom Night Out special from 2013–14, Shepherd currently hosts Best Ever Trivia Show on the Game Show Network. The show premiered on June 10, 2019.

She co-hosted the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008.

In 2006, Shepherd was a frequent guest co-host on ABC's The View. She became 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.

Shepherd was criticized after one 2007 broadcast of The View. The show was often filmed "live", with little or no editing. She stated she did not "believe in evolution. Period." Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked her, "Is the world flat?" Shepherd responded, "I don't know," and expanded that she "never thought about it". 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 criticism 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."

In 2018, she created controversy on The View due to "flippant" remarks regarding abortion. She later clarified, saying her remarks weren't meant to be flippant but rather inspire other women who may be dealing with guilt after abortions. She cited having multiple abortions in her 20s, suffering from shame and guilt from those experiences, later converting to Christianity.

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.

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

Writing
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.

The Masked Singer
On November 6, 2019, during the second season of The Masked Singer, Shepherd was revealed to be the singer underneath the Penguin mask.

Charity
Sherri raises funds for the YAI Sherri Shepherd "Believe in Abilities" Fund.

YAI supports people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities in achieving the fullest life possible by creating new opportunities for living, loving, working, and learning. YAI is a network of agencies with programs that empower and enhance the lives of thousands of people we support and their families.

In 2011, Shepherd offered to pay six months' rent and utilities of homeless former American Gladiators star Debbie Clark (Storm).

Personal life
Shepherd was married to Jeff Tarpley from 2001 to 2010 and had a son Jeffrey Tarpley.

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, Lamar Sally Jr. 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.

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
 * 2008 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2009 Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2010 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2011 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2012 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2013 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)
 * 2014 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)

People's Choice Award Nomination
 * 2013 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host(s) (The View)

Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination
 * 2010 Nomination for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture Precious (Shared with rest of cast)

Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award Nomination
 * 2009 Nomination for Best Ensemble, Precious (Shared with all cast members)

Boston Society of Film Critics Award
 * 2009 Award for Best Ensemble Cast (Precious)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Nomination
 * 2010 Nomination for Best Acting Ensemble, Precious (Shared with rest of cast)

Black Reel Award Nomination
 * 2010 Nomination for Best Ensemble Cast, Precious (Shared with rest of cast)

BET Comedy Award Nomination
 * 2005 Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Less than Perfect)

NAACP Image Awards and Nominations
 * 2009 Award for Outstanding Talk Series (The View)
 * 2010 Nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (Sherri)
 * 2010 Nomination for Outstanding Talk Series (The View)
 * 2011 Award for Outstanding Talk Series (The View)

Gracie Award
 * 2010 Award for Leading Actress in a Comedy Series (Sherri)

Braveheart Award
 * 2010 Powerful Women in Hollywood Award