Cheryl Lee Ralph

Think about ourselves in order to believe in ourselves.

Growing up, my dad had a sign on his desk, and it said,

Think.

Ooh, I did not know how valuable and powerful the simple act of thinking was until I came back to Hollywood from my triumphant run on Broadway, and I had this meeting with a big studio Hollywood casting director.

Oh, I was so excited.

I walked in, and he looked at me, and he said,

Everybody knows you're a beautiful, talented black girl.

But what do I do with a beautiful, talented black girl?

Do I put you in a movie with Tom Cruise?

Does he kiss you?

Who goes to see that movie?

I could not believe that that man had just said that to me, to my face.

And he hurt me.

He hurt me so deeply, I was actually thinking about quitting.

Until ... I started to think.

And I thought about what he said.

He said that everybody knew that I was a beautiful, talented black girl.

And that I deserved to be cast in movies with the likes of Tom Cruise, and he should kiss me!

So what was meant to break me did not break me.

It built me up.