Gabourey Sidibe is an American actress best known for her role in the critically acclaimed inspirational 2009 Lee Daniels film Precious. Her performance in this film, which was her very first role on screen, earned her nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
She also starred in the Fox musical drama series Empire, the series American Horror Story and many other films.
Gabourey Sidibe Biography
Sidibe was born on 6 May 1983 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, the son of a Senegalese father, Ibnou Sidibe, and an African-American mother, Alice Tan Ridley. Her father was a taxi driver, while her mother was a special education teacher who gave up her career to become a street artist/vocalist. She performed once in the fifth season of America’s Got Talent. Gabourey has two brothers and a string of twin sisters. Although she was born in Brooklyn, Gabby, as she was called, grew up in Harlem. Her parents separated when she was 12 years old, which meant that she sometimes lived with her aunt because her mother had financial difficulties.
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She attended local colleges such as the Borough of Manhattan Community College where she earned an Associate’s Degree. During this time she had a part-time job as a receptionist and also worked in the phone sex business to pay her tuition fees. After attending the City College of New York, she earned a degree in psychology at Mercy College. During this time she was informed by a friend that there was a film audition to find the lead role for Precious.
Gabby was already familiar with the role as she had reread the novel on which the film was based. However, she was reluctant to attend the auditions as this meant that she would have to skip college. She was also in the middle of preparing for an exam.
Also, Gabby had no acting experience to fall back on for the audition. Her only acting experience came from school plays as a child. However, she sought inspiration from her own life experiences and from the knowledge she had acquired during her psychology training to act her character powerfully.
In an interview, she said that her childhood gave her “a lot of practice in acting” because she grew up pretending to be okay while she wasn’t.
Gabby beat the over 300 girls who came to the auditions to get the role. After her performance and the success of the film, everything started to fall into place, and offers came in from all sides. Her next role was that of a bully in the movie Yelling to the Sky. Other movies in which she played the leading role are Tower Heist, Seven Psychopaths, White Bird in a Blizzard, etc.
Is Gabourey Sidibe Married or Single? Husband
Mrs. Sidibe has never been married and is currently single. To the best of her knowledge, she is not dating anyone and has never had a relationship with anyone inside or outside the entertainment industry. However, she has openly discussed what her ideal man would look like.
“I’m 5’4, so if you’re 5’6, I’ll consider you tall, because you’re taller than me,” Sidibe said in an interview with People. “If you are 5′ 7/8, please also apply: I will mount you.”
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Net Worth
Gabourey Sidibe has an estimated net worth of $6 million Her income comes from her various film and serial roles, including episodes of the television series Saturday Night Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Drunk History, and many others. She also received a huge sum of money when her book was auctioned in 2017. In 2015, she began writing her memoirs and raised $2,500,000.
Weight Loss and Measurements
Gabourey Sidibe is an impeccably self-confident young woman with great self-esteem. And this even though she is an overweight black woman working in the image-conscious and racist entertainment industry. She has managed to be a great role model for oversized women by feeling comfortable in her skin and sharing her growing-up experience with a family that tortured her because of her weight.
However, her life changed when she found out in 2016 that both she and her brother had diabetes. After the diagnosis, she made a decision that would change her life. She underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery to control her weight.
From time to time, Gabby publishes pictures of herself on Instagram, showing the progress she has made. She currently weighs 122 kg and is 1.5 meters 4 inches tall. Her height is 44-46-46 inches. Her bra size is 38 inches.
