You may not know actress, Sharon Warren (46), by name, but you definitely know her face…that is if you’re familiar with the legendary Ray Charles biopic, “Ray.” She portrayed Ray Charles’ tough mother, Aretha Robinson, in the film (Ray Charles hand picked her for the role himself just prior to his passing). One of her classic lines was when she told young Ray “Don’t let nobody make you no cripple.” Well we were wondering where Sharon has been since we last saw her on-screen in 2004, so we did some diggin’ and here’s what we found…

SHARON WARREN: ‘I’M NO PITY PARTY’

Sharon said she was actually homeless at one point in her life, and also had some struggles after “Ray,” but she made it clear that she wants no one to feel sorry for her at all. Check out what she revealed here…

“RAY” ACTRESS IS HUMBLED, GROUNDED, & GRATEFUL

Sharon revealed to Ebony Magazine, that if it weren’t for her own hardships and financial struggles, she wouldn’t have been able to play the hell outta that “Ray” role the way that she did.

Just before getting the part, she’d moved from her hometown of Tuskegee, AL., to Atlanta, where she found herself homeless and living in her car for two months, trying desperately to get acting gigs and auditions. She had no manager and no agent, but she randomly walked into that “Ray” audition at an ATL hotel and killed it…

Via Ebony Magazine: “Every artist has done that,” [Warren says about being homeless]. “I’m not saying you have to do that, but I don’t want to appeal to people’s sympathy. Aretha [Ray Charles’ mom] wouldn’t have ever come out of me had I not discovered who Sharon was first. I took that time to really get real and experience life, just live, become grounded and become real. I wasn’t making a whole lot of money, but I was doing a lot of writing. I felt so alive.”

Wow, motivation, drive, focus, and hard work goes a VERY long way.

Sharon also admitted that she was still financially strapped after “Ray,” but that she was just grateful for the experience.

WHO SHARON MIMICKED FOR HER “RAY” ROLE

So who did Sharon channel to give such an authentic performance as Aretha Robinson in “Ray?” Her late grandmother, Annie Lou Gould Walker, of course:

Sharon Warren on her late grandmother’s influence: “She just made it real. She had a world of knowledge. Everything that you see me going through [in “Ray”], every word that I say, there is an energy behind it because of my grandmother.” -Ebony

As far as what Sharon’s doing with her acting these days, we aren’t really sure, but she is a writer and based on her Twitter page, she’s continuing to write poetry and such. The thing we’d love to know though, is why in the world hasn’t an actress as authentically captivating as Sharon Warren, been involved in far more major projects by now — be it TV, film, whatever? Hopefully, we’ll get to see her grace the screen again one day soon.