Behold, a box-office queen!

Keke Palmer is basking in the joy of having the number one film at the box office this week, as the Jordan Peele horror Nope, which she stars in, had people flocking to theaters all weekend. It’s a big win for the actress, who has been working hard in the industry for more than 20 years and is finally getting the leading lady limelight she deserves on the big screen.

She’s been doing that work with help of her mother, Sharon Palmer, who helped her get her first role, in Barbershop 2, going out of her way to find her daughter an agent and to get an audition tape into the right hands. She’s continued to be a force in her daughter’s life because she is her current manager.

“I did it so she could go to college,” she shared last year about her motivation to support her daughter as she navigated the entertainment industry. “I never expected any of this. I didn’t do it for money or fame. It was college. I wanted her to go to college. I wanted my kids to go to college. And I wanted them to have a better life.”