Celebrating Sela Ward Television and film actor Sela Ward was born in Meridian on July 11, the oldest of four children in her family. She took ballet classes as a child and relished simple times playing outdoors until dark. After college at the University of Alabama, where she was a homecoming queen and cheerleader, Ward moved to New York and worked with an advertising agency and as a model. Ward gained experience with appearances in television commercials in New York, and her interest in film a