Photo by Lorenzo Gomez
Wave Staff and Wire Reports
HOLLYWOOD — Two Black entertainment icons were honored this week in ceremonies that exemplify what has made Los Angeles the capital of the entertainment world for decades.
Ice Cube added to his list of honors April 15 when he placed his hands and footprints in cement in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese Theatre. The next day, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ice Cube, whose birth name is O’Shea Jackson, was joined at his ceremony by his oldest son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., who portrayed his father in the 2015 N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” and comedian and actor Mike Epps.
Ice Cube and Epps co-starred in the buddy comedy films “Next Friday,” “Friday After Next,” “All About The Benjamins” and the comedy “Lottery Ticket.”
“Thank you for everybody that has showed up to hear a young dude from South Central Los Angeles get a chance to express how much I’m appreciative,” Ice Cube told the crowd. “And I’m living the dream.”
The singer/actor’s son paid tribute to his famous father, saying, “Thank you for everything you’ve done and everything you continue to do for us and the world. Your handprint has been on this city for decades. It’s only right that it is cemented forever.”
The ceremony coincided with the announcement that Ice Cube will make his first domestic headlining tour in over a decade. The 22-date “Truth to Power: 4 Decades of Attitude” tour will begin Sept. 4 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and include a Sept. 28 stop at Crypto.com Arena.
“Truth to Power is more than a tour — it’s a 40-year celebration,” Ice Cube said in a statement. “The world needs truth. The people need power. And that’s what my music brings. It’s gonna’ be next level to go from city to city with a major production unlike anything I’ve ever done before.”
Ice Cube first attracted attention as a rapper and songwriter with the West Coast gangsta rap group N.W.A in the late 1980s, writing lyrics for its groundbreaking songs “Straight Outta Compton” and “Gangsta, Gangsta.”
N.W.A was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.
Ice Cube began his solo career in 1990 when he released his first studio album, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted,” which was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Ice Cube has released 11 studio albums. Each of the first five were certified platinum and the next two certified gold.
Ice Cube began his acting career with the 1991 film “Boyz n the Hood.” He later appeared in the “Friday,” “Barbershop,” “Are We There Yet?” and “Ride Along” franchises, which he also produced.
His other acting credits include “Three Kings,” “21 Jump Street” and its sequel “22 Jump Street.”
Ice Cube was also a producer of “Straight Outta Compton” and directed the 1998 dark comedy drama thriller, “The Players Club.”
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017 in the recording category.
Ice Cube also is a founder of the Big3 basketball league. In 2023 the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame created the Ice Cube Impact Award in collaboration with him and made him the first recipient.
The collaboration honors “Ice Cube’s extraordinary contributions to the world of basketball, his unparalleled passion for the game, and his unwavering commitment to encouraging crucial dialogues surrounding inclusivity, equal opportunity, and racial and social justice while contributing to initiatives focused on education and community development,” according to the Hall of Fame.
The following day Sheryl Lee Ralph was honored for a television career that began in 1978 and continues today with “Abbott Elementary.”
Series star and creator Quinta Brunson and Loretta Devine, a castmate of Ralph’s in the 1981-85 Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,” joined Ralph for the ceremony at 6623 Hollywood Blvd., near Musso & Frank Grill.
The ceremony was held the same day as the fourth-season finale of “Abbott Elementary” airs on ABC.
Ralph won an outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series Emmy for her portrayal of kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard on “Abbott Elementary” in 2022 and was nominated in the category each of the next two seasons.
“I can still feel the determined spirit of that little girl who dared to dream big,” Ralph said. “Growing up, I felt my big dreams had to be whispered, because that kind of ambition could be mistaken for arrogance. But my immigrant mother would look me in the eye and say what we always say in Jamaica, ‘Good, better, best, never let it rest til your good is better and your better best.’
“I can still feel the carpet under my feet in our living room in Connecticut where I would dance in front of the mirror using my hairbrush as a microphone, with my T-shirt on my head wishing I had Tina Turner’s wig,” she said. “Oh the dreams I dared to dream. But you see me now? I don’t look like my journey. There were days and not so long ago I couldn’t get into the room for the audition. And now I am literally cemented as part of the industry’s foundation.”
Her television career began in 1978 with an uncredited appearance on the NBC World War II drama “Black Sheep Squadron.” Her first credited television role was as a nurse on the short-lived ABC comedy “A.E.S. Hudson Street,” later in 1978.
Ralph’s other early television credits include “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times” and “Wonder Woman.”
Ralph’s first series as a cast member was the NBC daytime drama “Search For Tomorrow” in 1983. The first prime-time series to feature Ralph in the cast was the NBC action-adventure series “Code Name: Foxfire,” which ran for five episodes in 1985.
Ralph was a cast member of the syndicated comedy “It’s a Living” from 1986-89, the 1990 ABC comedy “New Attitude” and the 2013-15 Nickelodeon and TV Land comedy “Instant Mom.”
Ralph played the wife of boxer turned after-school program director George Foster (George Foreman) on the ABC comedy “George,” which ran for nine episodes in the 1993-94 season.
Ralph’s best-known television role before “Abbott Elementary” was the mother of the title character (Brandy Norwood) in the 1996-2001 UPN comedy “Moesha.”
Ralph had recurring roles on the CBS comedy “Designing Women” in the 1992-93 season, the Showtime crime drama, “Ray Donovan” from 2013-14 and 2019-20, the Prime Video comedy “One Mississippi” in 2017 and the Freeform supernatural drama “Motherland: Fort Salem” from 2020-22.
Her other television credits include “ER,” “L.A. Law” and “Falcon Crest.”
Ralph received a best actress in a musical Tony nomination in 1982 for her portrayal of Deena Jones, a member of a Black girl group from Chicago.
Her other Broadway credits include the 2002 revival of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Wicked.”
Ralph began her movie career when she was 20 in the 1977 crime comedy “A Piece of the Action,” which starred Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and James Earl Jones and was directed by Poitier. Her other film credits include “The Distinguished Gentleman,” “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” and “The Flintstones.”
