Quinta Brunson is opening up about her love of Mary Tyler Moore and The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

The 36-year-old Abbott Elementary star received the Mary Tyler Moore Visionary Award at the Variety FYC TV Fest last week, and shared how the late actress was her childhood inspiration.

“That show went platinum in my household,” she told Variety of the 1970s sitcom. “The Mary Tyler Moore Show was supremely important to me. As a kid, I wasn’t necessarily looking for representation or anything other than ‘this is a really funny show.’ And that theme song is second nature to me!”

She later gushed about how Mary‘s path was a guiding light for her.

“Seeing her first on The Dick Van Dyke Show, she gave me this understanding of how the business could work — that you could be a featured player on one show and then a lead on your own show,” the actress and writer shared. “And then have your own business, have your own studio. I remember seeing Mary Tyler Moore on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and seeing these two incredible women in media and television just sitting there chatting it up, that was really defining for me. It made me never question whether or not I could do this.”

Just last month, Abbott Elementary delivered a shocking decision for audiences, and Quinta explained why that had to happen.

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