Late last year, Sherri Shepherd had a surreal moment on the set of her eponymous talk show. She’d spent her formative years watching The Oprah Winfrey Show, so when the original talk show queen agreed to appear on Sherri, it felt monumental. “I get emotional thinking about it because nobody has done it better than that woman did,” Shepherd says. “To have Oprah come on my show and say she was passing the baton to me? The 20-year-old girl inside me was screaming, but the grown-ass woman was like, You did it.”
Shepherd’s story is one of talent, hard work, and hustle. She made her TV debut in 1995 with a short-lived sitcom on the WB and has since appeared on dozens of shows. She was a cohost on The View for seven years, helping to send it into the ratings stratosphere; she does stand-up comedy; she’s written two books (a memoir and a wellness plan); and she supports organizations that help people with developmental disabilities, in honor of her son. “Over the years, people have said no to me about things for various reasons,” Shepherd says. “But I kept at it and believed in myself—and that perseverance paid off .”
Nearly 30 years into her career, Shepherd is still hustling. She’s filming season 3 of Max’s The Sex Life of College Girls (she plays a senator and the mom of a main character), and she’ll soon start taping season 3 of Sherri. “I have lots of people I want on the show: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis!” Maybe Oprah again? —Bethany Heitman
Illustrations by Abbey Lossing
ONYI NWABINELI Novelist who’s breaking down barriers and pulling others through • FASHION’S COMFY MOMENT C’mon over, baggy jeans, sweatshirts, and all the sneakers • COCO GAUFF Tennis megastar who shares her struggles • ACCESSOS Bringing emergency help to deaf people • SOMATIC THERAPY