On May 6, 1983, Gabourey Sidibe was born in Brooklyn, NY. In 2009, she made her acting debut in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” to popular and critical acclaim. She won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, as well as earning nominations for Best Actress at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. She has since starred in many hit TV shows and films. Teased for her size when she was a young girl, she is now a role model for body-positivity.
Sidibe was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, supported the family by singing for money in the New York City subway system. Her father, Ibnou Sidibe, is a cab driver from Senegal. Sidibe mostly lived with her aunt, feminist Dorothy Pitman Hughes, in Harlem. NY. As a teenager, she suffered from anxiety and was incessantly teased for being overweight. In an NPR interview, she shared she struggled to find her life’s purpose: “I was just praying that my life would begin…” At 24 years old,
while she tried to break into acting, Sidibe took a job as a phone sex operator. Then, two years later, she auditioned and landed the lead role in Lee Daniels’ “Precious.” She masterfully played Claireece “Precious” Jones, a 16-year-old mother of two trying to escape her brutally abusive mother.
Photo: Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection
Since “Precious,” Sidibe played young witch Queenie on “American Horror Story: Coven” and later reprised the role in “American Horror Story: Hotel.” She also appeared in “American Horror Story: Freak Show” as the secretarial school student, Regina Ross. Since 2015, she has starred in “Empire” alongside Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, as Lucious Lyon’s assistant, Becky Williams.
In 2017, she released her memoir, “This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare.” In the book, she discusses race, weight, fashion, celebrity, class, and how she deals with her haters. In 2016, she had weight-loss surgery that gave her more confidence. However, she was opposed to people congratulating her for the change. Staying true to her body-positive message, Sidibe told People magazine, “It
just annoys me because I’m just like, don’t congratulate me on that… Because my body actually has nothing to do with you, and I don’t really need your support for it.”