Sheryl Lee Ralph Recalls A Young Lauryn Hill ‘Brimming with Talent’ 

Emmy Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is reflecting on her experience working with a teenage Lauryn Hill during the filming of the 1993 movie Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, describing the future music icon as a gifted young performer overflowing with confidence and talent.

Speaking during a career retrospective for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Ralph, who portrayed Florence Watson, the strict mother of Hill’s character Rita, recalled meeting the then-16-year-old actress and singer.

“My God, to meet a 16-year-old Lauryn Hill. This was a young woman just overflowing, brimming with talent and confidence,” Ralph said, adding that Hill possessed “confidence with a capital ‘C.’”

Ralph also remembered an impromptu moment between takes when Hill and fellow actress Tanya Blount performed the gospel classic His Eye Is on the Sparrow. Impressed by their chemistry and vocal abilities, Ralph recalled thinking the duet deserved a place in the movie, a performance that ultimately became one of the film’s most memorable scenes.

She further revealed that after rehearsals, Hill shared her plans to form a musical group called The Fugees. Although Ralph admitted she questioned the name at the time, Hill would later team up with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel to create the Grammy-winning trio. Their landmark 1996 album, The Score, produced enduring hits including Killing Me Softly With His Song and Ready or Not, helping cement the group’s place in music history.

The beloved Sister Act franchise starred Whoopi Goldberg as lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier, who enters a convent under witness protection. While the original 1992 film focused on her adventures with the nuns, the sequel saw Deloris returning to help save a struggling school, introducing audiences to a talented cast of young performers led by Hill.

In 2024, Goldberg invited Ralph to participate in a cast reunion on The View and expressed hope that the actress would return for the long-anticipated third installment of the franchise, which remains in development.

More than three decades after Sister Act 2, Ralph’s memories offer a glimpse into the early years of one of music’s most celebrated voices, a teenager whose confidence and vision would eventually transform into international stardom.