A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Wednesday honoring Sheryl Lee Ralph 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 in speaking at the ceremony at 6623 Hollywood Blvd., near Musso & Frank Grill.

“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.”

The star is the 2,808th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.

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,” and was nominated in the category each of the next two seasons.

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 in the 1996-2001 UPN comedy “Moesha,” in which she played the mother of Brandy Norwood’s title character.

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 “Dreamgirls” 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.”