Shepherd's first television acting job was starring as Victoria Carlson in the short lived sitcom
Cleghorne!, which aired for one season on
The WB in 1995. She told
Ebony in 2018, "That was the first job that I booked and I was still a legal secretary. My agent told me, 'You can quit your job.' I had that big break ... and then it was canceled. I lost my apartment, my car was repossessed and I was homeless for a year. I slept on everybody's couch. In this business, it's very uncertain. You can be working one day and not working the next." From 2007 – 2013, she had a recurring role as Angie, the wife of character Tracy Jordan, on the NBC
sitcom 30 Rock. In 1998 she played in an episode of
Friends. In 2009, she starred for one season in
Lifetime Television's
Sherri, a sitcom about Shepherd's life. She recurred as Daphne during the final season of
How I Met Your Mother in 2013. In the same year, Shepherd appeared on
Broadway in
Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical production of
Cinderella. From 2017 to 2018, Shepherd portrayed Anne Flatch in NBC's mockumentary legal comedy series,
Trial & Error. She will produce and star in the comedy series pilot ''Black Don't Crack''.
Television personality Shepherd has appeared as a guest host and contestant on several television shows such as
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,
Rachael Ray, and
To Tell the Truth. She co-hosted the
35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008. She became host of the
Game Show Network version of
The Newlywed Game in 2010, replacing
Carnie Wilson, and would host that show until it ended in 2013. Shepherd also hosted
Nickelodeon's
NickMom Night Out special from 2013 to 2014, Shepherd hosted
Best Ever Trivia Show on
Game Show Network for 65 episodes, beginning on June 10, 2019. She has appeared regularly as a panelist on
Funny You Should Ask since 2017. ,
Barbara Walters,
Joy Behar, Shepherd, and
Elisabeth Hasselbeck) interview
United States President Barack Obama on July 29, 2010 In 2006, Shepherd became a frequent guest co-host on
ABC's daytime talk show
The View. She became a permanent co-host in 2007, debuting in September, when she replaced
Star Jones. After leaving
The View in 2014, Shepherd continued to make several appearances on the show as a contributor throughout 2015 and 2016. Shepherd encountered public criticism after a September 2007 broadcast of
The View when she stated she did not "believe in evolution. Period." Co-host
Whoopi Goldberg asked her, "
Is the world flat?" Shepherd responded, "I don't know," and expanded that she "never thought about it". Shepherd later referred to her statement as a "brain fart" brought on by nerves.
Barbara Walters and Shepherd talked after that episode: Walters said, "Dear, the Earth is round", and Shepherd responded with: "Barbara, I know that!"
The View was often filmed "live", with little or no editing, so more criticism erupted after the December 4, 2007, broadcast 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. 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", to which Behar responded: "The Jews." Shepherd garnered further criticism after admitting to never voting partly due to her upbringing as a strict
Jehovah's Witness. She was quoted as saying that she just "never knew the dates or anything"; she stated, "I've never voted for anything in my life." In January 2008, Sherri referred to Gospel singer
Shirley Caesar as "the black
Patti LaBelle." LaBelle, like Caesar, is black. In 2008, she created more controversy on
The View due to "flippant" remarks regarding abortion. She later clarified her position, saying her remarks weren't meant to be "flippant" but rather to inspire other women who may be dealing with guilt after abortions. She cited having multiple abortions herself in her 20s, which caused her to suffer from shame and guilt due to those experiences. She also revealed she later converted to Evangelical Christianity. In 2009, Shepherd won the
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host alongside Behar, Goldberg, Walters, and
Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In March 2012, Shepherd participated as a celebrity contestant on the
fourteenth season of ABC's
Dancing with the Stars finishing tenth; her dance partner was
Val Chmerkovskiy. In 2019, Shepherd participated in the
second season of Fox's
The Masked Singer as "Penguin". From October 2021 to June 2022, Shepherd was among the recurring
guest hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show
The Wendy Williams Show, as its namesake
Wendy Williams had been on an indefinite absence from the program due to her medical issues. On February 22, 2022, the show's distributor
Debmar-Mercury announced that Shepherd had been signed on to host a new talk show,
Sherri, which premiered in the 2022–23 television season as a replacement for
Wendy. The series premiered on September 12. In January 2023, the series was renewed for its second and third seasons through 2025.
Other ventures Shepherd wrote the book ''Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break
, published in October 2009. Shepherd also has a co-author credit on Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes'', published in 2013. Sherri raises funds for the YAI Sherri Shepherd "Believe in Abilities" Fund. YAI supports people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities in achieving the fullest life possible by creating new opportunities for living, loving, working, and learning. YAI is a network of agencies with programs that empower and enhance the lives of thousands of people we support and their families. In 2009, Shepherd appeared on an episode of
WWE SmackDown as the guest manager for professional wrestler
MVP, who competed against
Dolph Ziggler in a match defending the
WWE United States Championship. In 2011, Shepherd offered to pay six months' rent and utilities of homeless former
American Gladiators star Debbie Clark (Storm). As of 2015, a project includes a line of wigs and hair add-ins. ==Personal life==