Sheryl Lee Ralph talks 'The Fabulous Four,' 'living in her joy' and embracing getting older: 'If you don't age, you die'

Sheryl Lee Ralph is a quarter of The Fabulous Four, the latest entry into a budding genre of films that follow pals over 65 who go on an adventure and learn the importance of long-lasting friendship.

Ralph told Yahoo Entertainment that the film arrives in theaters at the perfect time because it’s important to see a group of older women “reclaiming their lives” onscreen despite the ageism that often impacts Hollywood.

“I look at age as a wonderful thing that happens to you, because if you don't age, you die,” she said. “I plan to age for as long as God will allow me, and I'm going to have a good time doing it.”

The Fabulous Four follows Marilyn (Bette Midler), a TikTok influencer who invites her college friends to her second wedding. Singer Alice (Megan Mullally) and cannabis farmer (Ralph) trick stick-in-the-mud doctor Lou (Susan Sarandon) into making the journey to Key West, Fla., for the ceremony, because Marilyn and Lou had a friendship-ending fight over a man decades ago. Jokes about weed, sex and TikTok virality ensue as the friends discover that life is too short to hold grudges.

Bette Middler plays a TikTok influencer in "The Fabulous Four." (Bleecker Street Media/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Ralph won her first Emmy in 2022 for her role as wise kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary, and hours before speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, she received her third nomination for the role. She said she’s grateful to be working as much as she is and portraying characters who inspire so much laughter.

“I’m not so much having fun as I am living in my joy,” she said. “They say if you live in your passion and in your joy, you never have to work a day.”

The 2018 movie Book Club seemingly kicked off the trend of movies about older women rediscovering their zest for life. It follows four friends, played by Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, whose lives are turned upside down when they read 50 Shades of Grey. In 2023, 80 for Brady had Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Lily Tomlin travel to watch Tom Brady play in the Super Bowl.

Sometimes the number of friends in the genre of films varies slightly. Poms, the 2019 film starring Keaton, Jacki Weaver and Rhea Pearlman, unites a squad of six seniors who form a cheerleading squad at their retirement community. Summer Camp, released in May 2024, sees childhood best friends Kathy Bates, Keaton and Alfre Woodard attending a sleepaway camp reunion.

Bette Midler, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Megan Mullally are three of "The Fabulous Four." (Bleecker Street Media/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Ralph said four is the ideal number of friends to show onscreen, though, because it reflects different relationship dynamics.

“The hard part about four is that you might have a group of two and two within it, but if you don’t have someone on your side, that can be three against one,” she said. “But when it works out … it’s magic.”

She added: “The women I worked with on this film … it was just magic. You get to see that magic onscreen.”

The Fabulous Four is in theaters July 26.