Ryan Toby Admits He 'Fell in Love' with Lauryn Hill While Filming “Sister Act 2” and Was Crushed to Discover She Was Dating Omar Epps
Ryan Toby Admits He 'Fell in Love' with Lauryn Hill While Filming “Sister Act 2” and Was Crushed to Discover She Was Dating Omar Epps
Angela AndaloroTue, February 10, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC
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Lauryn Hill (left), Ryan Toby in "Sister Act 2"
Touchstone Pictures
Ryan Toby, Lauryn Hill and Jennifer Love Hewitt were all part of the young cast of Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Toby appeared on the R&B Money podcast, where he discussed memories from filming and admitted to having a crush on Hill
At the time, Hill was dating fellow actor Omar Epps, to Toby's dismay
Ryan Toby's brief crush on his Sister Act 2 costar ended in disappointment.
Toby, 49, appeared alongside Lauryn Hill in the 1993 film and recalls falling for her quickly. However, as he explained to hosts Tank and J. Valentine on The R&B Money Podcast, he quickly learned that was a dead end.
"I got the call that they wanted me in the movie and we flew out to LA. Met a young Lauryn Hill. We hit it off because we was the only two kids from Jersey," he recalled of the film.
"Me, her and Jennifer Love Hewitt were the only real high school students in the cast. Everybody else older, everybody else was grown. So we would all go to tutoring and stuff like that," he shared.
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"Sister Act 2"
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
"Lauryn stayed in the apartment right below me, I think. I fell in love with her, Lauryn Hill, over at the Oakwoods, boy. Man, I had a crush on her," Toby admitted.
That crush wasn't long-lived, however, after he realized the star was already taken.
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"You know what broke my heart? Her real dude came to visit one day. You know who it was? Omar Epps."
Laughing he added, "I ain't gonna lie, that s--t still hurts. I wasn't developed... I garnered a lot of respect for him that day and just understood like okay, you gotta take what you want in this world."
"Sister Act 2"
Disney+
PEOPLE caught up with Toby in 2024, where he shared some of his memories of filming with such an unforgettable cast.
"Deondray [Gossfield] was reminding me of something that I really don't remember, but he was like, 'Do you remember when you, me and Lauryn [Hill] took Lauryn's car and were driving around in the Hollywood Hills playing Ding-Dong Ditch? Going to people's houses, ringing the door, daring each other to ring the doorbell and running off?'"
Toby, who went on to pursue music in the group City High, talked about feeling nostalgic looking back at moments like that.
"We were kids," he said fondly. "We were just goofy kids, bored on Friday night. We couldn't go to the club or anything like that, so we were just doing what goofy kids would do."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
