Back in 2009, Gabourey Sidibe burst onto the scene with her 2009 debut in “Precious,” which went on to score four Academy Award nominations and two wins, with one of those nominations going to her for Best Actress. Despite her powerful performance in the heart-wrenching film, Sidibe says that roles did not just fall into her lap afterward.
“I’ve heard the idea that I’m just lucky before. I’ve heard that. I’m an extremely unlucky person, actually. I’m very, very unlucky in a lot of ways. I work really, really hard, though. I work really, really hard. And no, the Hollywood seas didn’t part for me in the same way that it might have for maybe Anna Kendrick, who was nominated for the first time that year as well, who then went on to star in films and television and the whole thing.”
While the 37-year-old does acknowledge that several factors may have played a role in her not gaining instantaneous success, she is thankful to still be in the industry over a decade later, recently co-starring in the thriller Antebellum alongside Janelle Monáe.
“The seas did not part that same way for me, and I assume that there are a few factors that made that so, but I am still working 10 years later. I’m still working 12 years after having filmed it. I have agency. I am comfortable with who I am. I know my voice. I know what I want to say to the world. I know what I want to give to the world and what I want to give to myself. I know my artistry. And so, you know, starring in things or being on the covers of magazines, all of these things that say that I’ve ‘made it,’ everything that solidifies my position on the A-list, whatever that means, doesn’t actually mean anything to my self-worth and my sense of artistry.”
Sidibe has certainly solidified her place on the A-list, co-starring in Tower Heist, alongside Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, as well as her steady flow of supporting roles on Empire, The Big C, and American Horror Story.
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