Ralph Carter is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, and singer

Carter is best known for his work as a child and teenager, both in the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 Raisin

Raisin (musical)

Raisin is a musical theatre adaptation of the Lorraine Hansberry play A Raisin in the Sun, with songs by Judd Woldin and Robert Brittan, and a book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg....

(based on the Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...

 drama A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes...

) and as the character Michael Evans

Michael Evans (Good Times)

Michael Evans is an American supporting character from the 1970s American sitcom Good Times. The character was apparently named after Good Times co-creator Michael Evans. He was portrayed by Ralph Carter....

, the youngest member of the Evans family, on the 1970s sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Good Times

Good Times

Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer...

. For his work in Raisin, Carter was nominated for a Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical). He has the distinction of having appeared in two Galt MacDermot

Galt MacDermot

Galt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...

 flop musicals in the same season, Dude

Dude (musical)

Dude is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. It is an allegory about good and evil, the conflict between mankind's creative and destructive urges, the power of love, and the joy to be found in simple pleasures...

, for which he won the Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

 for Most Promising Performer, and Via Galactica

Via Galactica

Via Galactica is a rock musical with a book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, lyrics by Gore, and music by Galt MacDermot. It marked the Broadway debut of actor Mark Baker....

.
He recently wrote a play called Grandma's Hands, that is inspired by the women in his family.
In 1975, Carter recorded an album called When You're Young and in Love

When You're Young and in Love

"When You're Young and in Love" is a song composed by Van McCoy. The first recording of the song was by Ruby & the Romantics; like all the group's singles on Kapp Records the track was produced by label a&r head Allen Stanton...

.