- And I'm Sheryl Lee Ralph.

- And we're here with "Harpers BAZAAR".

- And this is, "Do You Know Her?"

(funky music intro)

- [Interviewer] Quinta. What kind of flowers

did Beyonce send Sheryl after her Emmy win?

Oh, I don't know that. (buzzer buzzes)

'Cause I don't know flowers.

I can tell you, I can describe them to you.

It was a beautiful card, and they were beautiful, gorgeous,

kind of like, white-ish, - That's right.

- purple-ish flowers?

- White with a hint of pink.

- Hint of pink. - Yeah.

- And that's what they looked like.

But I don't know flowers.

You could have told me they were petunias.

You could have tell me they're carnations.

I don't know.

- They were orchids and lilies and roses and...

- Damn!

- Yeah. It was amazing. - Beautiful.

- It was beautiful.

- Gorgeous! - Thank you, B.

- [Interviewer] What is Sheryl's favorite Beyonce song?

And Sheryl, what is Quinta's favorite Beyonce song?

- Sheryl's favorite?

- Come on, you know it, now!

- On the new album?

- Yes.

- I feel like you like...

- Say it.

- I thought it was "Alien Superstar"?

"Unique"? Or maybe that's just what I think about

when I look at you.

- Well, thank you.

- That's corny, but that's true.

I don't know, what is this?

♪ Comfortable in my skin ♪

- Oh, it is "Cozy".

♪ In the skin I'm in ♪ (bell dings)

- That's right. ♪ Cozy, cozy ♪

- Yeah. Yeah. - Yeah.

(Quinta laughing)

- Sheryl adds her own adlibs like that, "yeah".

(Sheryl laughing)

- It's hilarious to me. Yes.

I think of "Alien Superstar"-

like one time, I did Beyonce songs according

to each "Abbott" cast member.

And I was like, your character would

secretly find "Church Girl" blasphemous.

- Mmmmm, mmmm. - No, you would

find it blasphemous, but you would secretly like it.

Barbara would get down a little bit.

- Yes. - Yes.

- In private. - In private.

- Yes.

- But blasphemous on paper.

- She likes the one about "Unique" me?

Is it? No, no, no, no, no! That's not it.

"Church Girl". (bell dings)

- Yep. That's absolutely right.

- That is you. - That's absolutely right.

Yeah, that's my new favorite.

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, what was the name of Quinta's

first Instagram series?

- Oh my God, and I know it!

And it's in the back of my head!

See, I told you I was gonna fail.

I told you! - You didn't fail yet.

There's still time.

- I don't know.

Buzz? (buzzer buzzes)

Buzz? (Quinta laughing)

No, that's BuzzFeed! That's not a series.

I know it's, I know that, I know that.

- Just buzz?

That's not anything, Sheryl. - Buzz.

- That's just a word.

- I know, but I was gonna say BuzzFeed,

but it's not Buzzfeed. - No.

That's where I used to work. - Where you used to work.

- Mmm-hmm. - Exactly.

- Can I tell her? Can I- - Go ahead, go ahead.

"The Girl Who's Never Been on a Nice Date." (bell dings)

- Oh! "You ordered big popcorn?"

- Yep. - That girl?

- That's that girl. - Yes. Okay.

- A lot of- Don't feel bad about that one.

A lot of people just call that "He Got Money".

They don't know the name of the series.

- Okay, gotcha. - Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Quinta, what iconic '90s sitcom

did Sheryl costar in?

- That would be, "Mo to the",

- "E to the", "Moesha!" - "E to the", "Moesha!"

(bell dings) (both laughing)

- [Interviewer] Quinta, in the original 1981 production

of "Dreamgirls", what was Sheryl's role?

- Dina?

- Yes! - Oh, okay! Dina!

Dina. Dina. Dina. - Yes.

I got scared. Dina, 'cause of the, yeah.

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, do you remember the song

you sang for that audition?

♪ Ave Maria ♪ (bell dings)

Ave Maria.

- Wow.

- Yeah, mmm, hmm.

(Sheryl laughing)

- [Interviewer] We all said, "God, we hope

she's sings this."

- Aww, thank you! (Quinta laughing)

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, in which film is Quinta

slated to play the role of Oprah Winfrey?

- Weird Al Yankovic! (bell dings)

- [Interviewer] Excellent.

- Yes. - Yep.

- That's out. - Thank you.

- Stream now Roku.

- On Roku. (Quinta giggling)

- [Interviewer] Across all award shows,

how many times was "Abbott Elementary" nominated?

- A whole lot!

- So, across award shows?

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

- I'm not being obnoxious,

but I do not know

the answer to that. (buzzer buzzes)

I really don't know.

- I do not know the answer, either.

But for every one that we did win, we deserved it.

Thank you.

I did.

- [Interviewer] Do you want to know the answer?

- Yeah! - Yes!

- [Interviewer] According to IMDB?

- Yes. - Yeah.

- [Interviewer] 40. (bell dings)

- What? - Ohhhh.

40? I was gonna say like 20 something.

- [Interviewer] 40.

- I don't know if I trust IMDB,

'cause they get things wrong sometimes.

I looked at my thing and they were just wrong!

- Sheryl, remember we had that talk

about what to say on camera? - Shhh, I'm so sorry!

Oh my God, you're so right! (Quinta laughing)

- I'm so, I love you, IMDB!

I trust you with what you say.

Okay.

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, in high school,

you starred in a very famous Rogers and Hammerstein musical.

What was the musical, and your character's name?

- That would be Ado Annie in

♪ Ooooo-klahoma ♪

I can go on, but I will stop now.

- I have never seen that before.

- You're kidding me?

- I never saw that. - They have a new version

of it out now. - Yeah, I saw,

I saw that. I saw the,

- the billboards and every- (Quinta faintly speaking)

- Yes. That's worth seeing

'cause it makes you see it in a whole 'nother light.

And I love that, when they can do that with the classics.

Okay!

Make you see it differently, yeah.

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma.

- [Interviewer] Quinta, how many music videos

did you appear in?

- Thundercats. Dragon Ball 'do rag video.

The Internet. The band, the Internet's music video

for "Come Over". (bell dings)

And I was a nosy neighbor.

I guess that was a role?

- I had no idea.

- Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, true or false?

"Abbott Elementary" is named after a teacher

from Quinta's youth.

- Absolute truth and facts. (bell dings)

- [Interviewer] Bonus question!

What grade did Mrs. Abbott teach,

and what is her first name?

- Whoa. I do not know her first name.

(buzzer buzzes)

I just call her, Mrs. Abbott. - Uh-huh.

- And, was it fifth grade or first grade?

Or neither?

- If you put those two together.

- Sixth grade! - There you go.

- There you go. - Yes.

My teacher's first name is Joyce.

(bell dings) And yes,

Abbott is named after her.

But also inspired by my mother

and all the wonderful teachers in the world.

- And I love that so much, and they appreciate it.

- Yeah.

- Whoo! (faintly speaking)

- Okay.

- [Interviewer] Sheryl, do you remember

where you wore this dress?

- Okay! I honestly think

that this is opening night of "Dreamgirls"?

Am I wrong?

But I do know that that is my friend to this day,

and used to be my agent, Michael.

- I thought that was Paul McCartney.

- No! - I'm not gonna lie.

I thought that was America's Paul McCartney?

- No. England's Paul McCartney.

(Quinta laughing)

It was kind of both of ours.

Was it the opening night? (buzzer buzzes)

No, it wasn't the opening night!

You know, why it wasn't the opening night?

Because the opening night of "Dreamgirls",

I wore a deep V, gold lame with a ruffle on it.

So where in the heck was this?

I was happy, wherever it was.

- Yeah. - I was happy.

- Yep.

- Where was it? - Where was it?

- [Interviewer] There was a party at the Waldorf Hotel

for the Tonys in 1982.

- Oh, Sheryl. - Awwwww.

- That's so cute. - This was the Tony Awards!

- I love that. - Thank you!

- That's adorable.

- I love that.

- [Interviewer] Quinta, do you remember

where you wore this dress?

- This is from the Streamy Awards.

I was nominated for a streamy.

And I was in competition with the dog

whose tongue goes out like this.

I don't remember his name. (Quinta laughing)

And it was for Best, like, Comedic-

I don't even know what it's for,

like Best Comedic Performance

or something like that. But-

- But you won.

- I didn't win.

- You didn't win?

- But the dog didn't win either, so...

what'd you say?

- What are you holding?

- My pockets. - Oh, those are pockets!

- I got that.

I remember thinking I was killing it.

But it is sweet because it was the first time

I was ever nominated for something,

like that was really cool to me.

And it was for comedy and that meant something to me.

So this was special to me, even though, my God,

I cannot see this open.

Let's close that. (Quinta laughing)

- Thank you so much for watching!

- Bye.