Sherri Shepherd

Infobox person
name = Sherri Shepherd

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imagesize = 180px
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|4|22
birth_place = Chicago, Illinois
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Co-host on "The View"
salary =
networth =
spouse = Jeff Tarpley (-2007)
website = [http://www.sherrishepherd.com/ sherrishepherd.com]
footnotes =
children = Jeffrey Charles Tarpley

Sherri Evonne Shepherd (born April 22 1967) is an American comedian, actress, and co-host on the ABC daytime talkshow, "The View".

Early life

Shepherd was born in Chicago, Illinois. At age 11 her family, which includes Shepherd's three sisters, moved to Hoffman Estates, a Chicago suburb. She attended Winston Churchill Elementary School and Eisenhower Junior High School of Community Consolidated School District 54 and Hoffman Estates High School of District 211. In 1993 her mother was dying from complications with diabetes and her sister was heavily involved with drugs including crack cocaine. A variety of abusive relationships lead Shepherd to have multiple abortions. Shepherd later became a born-again Christian, as an adult, after moving to Los Angeles.

Career

Shepherd worked a day job as a legal secretary while doing stand-up comedy at night. Her first TV role was on the show, "Cleghorne!", starring former "Saturday Night Live" cast member, Ellen Cleghorne. Three years later, Shepherd pursued acting and stand-up comedy full-time, working again as a legal secretary for a day job. She had guest and recurring roles on, "Friends", "Living Single" as well as regular roles on, "Suddenly Susan" and, "The Jamie Foxx Show". Perhaps her most successful role prior to "The View", was playing the main character of Ramona Platt (2002-2006) on the comedy "Less Than Perfect" (Seasons 1-4, 81 episodes) as a co-worker friend.

Other credits

Shepherd has branched out to film, with roles in, "Guess Who", "Beauty Shop" and, "Cellular". She still performs stand-up comedy at Los Angeles area clubs like, the Comedy Store, and the Laugh Factory. She has also been a frequent and popular guest on Ellen DeGeneres' syndicated daytime talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", for which she holds a record for being on the show the greatest number of times. She currently has a recurring role on, "30 Rock", as, "Angie Jordan," the wife of Tracy Morgan's character, "Tracy Jordan."

Co-host on "The View"

In 2007, Sherri Shepherd became a frequent guest co-host on ABC's, "The View". On the morning of May 23, 2007, while guest hosting, Shepherd became caught in the middle of one of "The View"'s more heated exchanges between full time hosts, and political opposites, Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. As the clash grew more heated, a visibly shaken Shepherd made several attempts to step in and stop the argument, calling for producers to cut to the next commercial break, only to be told they had more time before the segment was finished. Shepherd eventually pulled herself and regular host Joy Behar completely away from the table, before the bickering came to an end, with a stilted reference to Shepherd's latest comedy DVD offering.

Following these events, O'Donnell left the show, and along with Whoopi Goldberg, Gayle King, Kathy Griffin, Roseanne Barr and Mario Cantone, Shepherd was rumored to be in line to replace her. Eventually Goldberg was announced as the replacement moderator. Shepherd eventually became a permanent co-host on Monday September 10, 2007, after shaky salary negotiations, and attempts to hire Kathy Griffin as a cheaper alternative failed.Fact|date=May 2008 A week before Shepherd became the show's fifth co-host, Barbara Walters announced that there would be a surprise permanent hostFact|date=December 2007. Online speculation within the blogosphere that Shepherd would become a permanent co-host of the show had persisted from as early as January 2007. [cite web
url=http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/01/sherri_shepherd.html
title = Sherri Shepherd: The new 'View' co-host?
accessdate = 2007-12-06
author = Michael Slezak
date = 2007-01-04
work = Popwatch Blog
publisher = Entertainment Weekly
language = English
quote =
The blogosphere ... is abuzz with the rumor that former Less Than Perfect star Sherri Shepherd has bagged herself a permanent slot as The View's fifth resident yackmeister.
"UPDATE: Sorry to disappoint, folks, but a source close to the show tells PopWatch that the rumors calling Shepherd's signing a done deal are "complete hogwash," and that we'll be seeing a number of subs in the Star Jones seat before a final decision is made. Still, they should totally hire her, right?" (entry dated January, 2007)]

It was announced on "The View", on May 27, 2008, that Shepherd would co-host the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008. Her fellow co-host is "All My Children" star and "Dancing With The Stars" alum Cameron Mathison, who was on the show to announce it. Shepherd is nominated for her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host.

Criticized statements

In an interview about co-hosting on The View, Shepherd admitted to putting her foot in her mouth a lot. When this was brought up on the The View, Shepherd's co-host, Whoopi Goldberg, admitted that Sherri needs to think more before speaking because a lot of what she says "just isn't appropriate!" [ [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20168482,00.html Sherri Shepherd's 'View'-point | Sherri Shepherd | The Q&A | TV | Entertainment Weekly | 1 ] ]

Shepherd was criticized heavily after the September 18, 2007 broadcast of "The View", [cite news|url=http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=67&id=16523|title=Media Blender|publisher=GayWired.com|date=2007-09-19] in which she stated that she didn't "believe in evolution. Period". She was asked by co-host Whoopi Goldberg, "Is the world flat?" She first responded, "…I don't know" and expanded that she "never thought about it". Shepherd continued that it was more important to her that she thought about how she was "going to feed [her] child". Barbara Walters replied to this defense of her scientific illiteracy, "You can do both." She then went on to quote scripture. [cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/18/new-view-cohost-sherri_n_64864.html|title=New "View" Co-Host Sherri Shepherd Doesn't Know If World Is Flat|date=2007-09-18|accessdate=2007-09-20|publisher=Huffington Post]

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 (see Persecution of early Christians by the Romans). 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". [cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/04/sherri-shepherd-doesnt-g_n_75292.html|title=Sherri Shepherd Doesn't Get That Whole BC Thing, Insists "Jesus Came First"|date=2007-12-04|accessdate=2007-12-05|publisher=Huffington Post|author= Danny Shea] [cite news|url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/12052007/tv/view_history_lesson_628228.htm|title='VIEW' HISTORY LESSON: SHERRI SHEPHERD SAYS JESUS CAME WAY FIRST|date=2007-12-05|accessdate=2007-12-06|publisher=New York Post|author= Michael Starr]

In January 2008, Sherri Shepherd commented that gospel singer Shirley Caesar was "like a black Patti LaBelle." Her co-stars, seemingly perplexed by the comment, were all quick to inform her that LaBelle is also African American. [ [http://www.dotspotter.com/news/585423_Sherri_Shepherd_Forgot_That_Patti_LaBelle_Was_Black Sherri Shepherd Forgot That Patti LaBelle Was Black! at Dotspotter ] ]

Shepherd also garnered ridicule after admitting to never voting because she just “never knew the dates or anything”; she stated, "I've never voted for anything in my life". [ [http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=67&id=18051 GayWired.com - Media Blender ] ] [ [http://www.mollygood.com/sherrie-shepherd-admits-to-never-voting-20080129/ Sherri Shepherd Admits to Never Voting / Mollygood ] ]

Personal life

Shepherd is married to comedian Jeff Tarpley (aka Jeff T. Aware); they have a son, Jeffrey Charles, born April 22, 2005. Though on the road to divorce after discovering that her husband was having an affair, Sherri Shepherd reported on "The View" on May 23 2007 that she and her husband were back together. Tarpley had a child during the affair and Shepherd said she thought it would be wrong to keep the children apart. However, on September 21 2007, "View" watchers learned that the reconciliation, which included marriage counseling, did not go well: Shepherd noted during the show's Hot Topics segment that she and Tarpley are again separated and a divorce is under way.

References

External links

* [http://www.sherrishepherd.com/ Official site]
*Imdb|0791868