Sheryl Lee Ralph opened a page in her family-history book and found an unexpected face: Samuel L. Jackson.
On the April 1, 2025 episode of Finding Your Roots, host Henry Louis Gates Jr. told the Abbott Elementary actor that DNA research had revealed a distant family connection between them.
Ralph laughed in surprise. Then she added a detail of her own: Jackson had always reminded her of her brother Timothy.
The discovery gave a familiar face a new meaning. An actor she already liked was also, according to the PBS program’s research, a distant cousin.
Featured photograph: Sheryl Lee Ralph in Los Angeles in 1988, not a still from the episode. Photo: Ithaka Darin Pappas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. No editorial changes.
A surprise at the end of her family-history journey
The episode, titled “Moving on Up,” featured Ralph and historian Lonnie Bunch.
As PBS station KPBS described it, Gates explored the lives of ancestors who moved from slavery toward freedom, built families, and crossed boundaries.
The celebrity connection arrived near the end of Ralph’s journey. After tracing earlier generations, the program turned to a comparison of her DNA with that of previous participants.
That comparison produced the match with Jackson.
The April 1 broadcast date also appears in the official PBS season announcement. The reveal belongs to that 2025 episode, rather than a newly announced discovery.
“Are you kidding me?”
The episode transcript published by PBS Wisconsin records Ralph’s immediate response: “Are you kidding me?”
She followed it with another delighted observation: “And I like him so much.”
Gates explained that the two shared a long DNA segment on their 16th chromosomes, which the program presented as evidence of a common ancestor.
Ralph then said Jackson reminded her of her brother Timothy. That resemblance was her personal observation, separate from the DNA comparison.
Photo: © Glenn Francis, Pacific Pro Digital, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. No editorial changes.
What the cousin connection establishes
The program described Ralph and Jackson as distant cousins. The reveal did not name their shared ancestor or specify an exact cousin degree.
That is the distinction to preserve when retelling the story. It supports a reported distant connection, without establishing whether they are third cousins, fourth cousins, or another precise relationship.
Contemporary reporting by People, republished by AOL, also described the chromosome match and Ralph’s reaction.
Her comment about Timothy made the moment especially personal. She had already noticed something familiar in Jackson, though that impression alone was not proof of kinship.
The research supplied a different kind of evidence. It connected two family histories that had not previously been linked in her understanding.
A familiar face became part of the family story
Philadelphia’s 6abc coverage highlighted both the unexpected relationship and Ralph’s observation about her brother.
Her response was memorable because it was so direct: surprise, laughter, and recognition.
Photo: Jon Irons / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. The Commons version has a watermark removed; no further editorial changes. This photograph predates the episode.
The moment did not replace the generations of family history explored earlier in the program. It added another connection to them.
Ralph had come to learn more about the people behind her own story. She left with an unexpected relative whose face she already knew.