Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe is having a Precious moment.
The 26-year-old New Yorker is making her big-screen debut — opposite stars including Mo'Nique, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey — playing Clareece "Precious" Jones in Precious, which is based on the popular novel Push by Sapphire.
Here are 8 things to know about the newcomer:
1. Her last name is pronounced SIH-deh-bay.
2. She's confident. "They try to paint the picture that I was this downtrodden, ugly girl who was unpopular in school and in life, and then I got this role and now I'm awesome," the actress told New York mag. “But the truth is that I’ve been awesome, and then I got this role."
3. The Brooklyn-born and Harlem-raised star spent her teen years hanging around outside MTV's TRL studios in Times Square with her BFF, Crystal, to get a glimpse of 'N Sync.
4. She cut a college class to audition for Precious — and got a call back within an hour.
5. She already has her next role locked and loaded — and she'll have a love scene. She'll appear in Yelling to the Sky with Don Cheadle. "I get to play a bad girl who beats other girls up," she has said. "And I get to make out with a boy — I wrote that into the script."
6. She juggles a lot of men. Asked if she has four or five boyfriends, she said: “Yes, but I don’t want to get serious enough to call them boyfriends. This one guy, I’ve deleted his number. I would text him at 7pm, and he’d be like, ‘I’m at BBQ's [restaurant].’ But the thing is, you don’t go to BBQ's with your boys, you go with a girl. Then he’d call me at 11. I’m like: ‘Why don’t you call me at 6 when you’re ready to go to BBQ’s?’ Don’t, don’t, don’t! I’m not a regular girl. I just got off a plane from France. You need to check yourself.”
7. She's just not into Taylor Swift. During a photo shoot over the summer, one of the country star's songs came on the sound system and Gabby groaned: "Is this Taylor Swift?"
8. She's probably not reading this. "I try to stay off the Internet," she told Interview. "Just because people hurt my feelings sometimes. My audition tape somehow ended up on YouTube, and, like, 40,000 people have seen it, and a lot of people have commented that I’m an incredible actress. But other opinions weren’t so nice, physically or whatever."
Check out the trailer for Precious — in limited release starting Nov. 6 — here.
iREALLy WANt tO SEE tHE MOViE
iT SOUNDS LIkE A GOOd ONE!
-- MARiA<3
SO tRUE ON ANONyMOUS 1st kOMMENt
-- MARiA<3
Sounds ignorant, especially number 6.
-- Jeff
hey she seems awesome! Can't wait 2 see the movie
-- alison5842
I think she may want to lose weight before people really start hating her for it, it will probably depress her. She is beautiful, just large. She is a great actress and I wish her the best!
-- It's not like any of you care!
It sounds yto me like she is just uneducated and that is not her fault. Hope thta she has a long lasting movie and or TV career.
-- lea lea
i looooooooooooooove her go with the attitude baby! love it! the movie trailer makes me cry omg so good i love her! i really wish her the best n i hope she surpasses her dreams!good look love!
-- abigail shomo
this movie looks like its gonna be awesome i feel so sorry for precious
-- sherry beasley
Total must seem film. Can't wait till it comes out.
-- Sheryl
OMG!!!! I can't wait to watch this. I got the chills just watching the trailer .Wat can i say shes the bomb you go girl.:):)
-- kellz
--Paris
--Melissa
--Randa