Gabourey Sidibe | |
---|---|
Born | |
Other names | Gabby Sidibe |
Alma mater | Borough of Manhattan Community College |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2009–present |
Spouse | Brandon Frankel (m. 2021) |
Parent | Alice Tan Ridley (mother) |
Relatives | Dorothy Pitman Hughes (aunt) |
Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe ( /ˈɡæbəˌreɪˈsɪdɪˌbeɪ/ GAB-ə-ray SID-i-bay; born May 6, 1983) [1] is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 2009 film Precious , a role that earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, in addition to nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film roles include Tower Heist (2011), White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), Grimsby (2016), and Antebellum (2020).
From 2010 to 2013, she was a main cast member of the Showtime series The Big C . Sidibe co-starred in the television series American Horror Story arcs Coven (2013–2014) as Queenie and Freak Show (2014–2015) as Regina Ross, and later reprised her role as Queenie in Hotel (2015–2016) and Apocalypse (2018). From 2015 to 2020, she starred in the Fox musical drama series Empire as Becky Williams.
Sidibe was born in New York City in the Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn neighborhood, and was raised in Harlem. [2] Her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, is an American R&B and gospel singer who appeared on the fifth season of America's Got Talent , on June 15, 2010. Her father, Ibnou Sidibe, is from Senegal and is a cab driver. [3] Growing up, Sidibe lived with her aunt, feminist activist Dorothy Pitman Hughes. [4] She holds an associate degree from Borough of Manhattan Community College and attended but did not graduate from City College of New York and Mercy College. [5] She worked at The Fresh Air Fund's office as a receptionist before pursuing an acting career. [6]
In Precious, Sidibe played the main character, Claireece "Precious" Jones, a 16-year-old mother of two (the result of Precious being raped by her father) who tries to escape abuse at the hands of her mother. The film won numerous awards, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award. [7] On December 15, 2009, she was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Precious. The next month she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Her next film, Yelling to the Sky , was a Sundance Lab project directed by Victoria Mahoney and starring Zoe Kravitz, in which she played Latonya Williams, a bully. [8] In 2011, Sidibe was in the film Tower Heist and voiced a character in "Hot Water", the first episode of season 7 of American Dad! She appeared in the season 8 American Dad! episode "Stanny Tendergrass" early in 2013, and starred in the music video for "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)" by the indie pop band Foster the People. Sidibe also appeared in the Showtime network series The Big C as Andrea Jackson.
Sidibe said in 2012 that before she was hired for the 2009 film Precious, she was advised by Joan Cusack not to pursue the entertainment industry, advising Sidibe to quit the business since "it's so image-conscious." [9]
By April 2013, Sidibe had joined the cast of American Horror Story season 3, portraying Queenie, a young witch. [10] She returned to the series for its fourth season, American Horror Story: Freak Show as a secretarial school student, Regina Ross. [11] From 2015, she stars in Lee Daniels' Fox musical series Empire as Becky Williams alongside Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson. Sidibe portrays the head of A&R in the Empire company. [12] As of April 2015, Sidibe was promoted to a series regular in season 2. [13] She also starred in the Hulu series Difficult People as Denise. [14]
In 2015, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced Sidibe would be writing a memoir set to be published in 2017. [15] On January 6, 2016, Sidibe appeared in the penultimate episode of American Horror Story: Hotel , reprising her Coven role as Queenie, marking her third season in the series. After sitting out subsequent seasons Roanoke and Cult, Sidibe returned to American Horror Story in 2018, appearing once again as her character Queenie in its eighth season, Apocalypse .
In March 2017, Sidibe revealed that she had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery in an effort to manage her weight. [16]
In November 2020, Sidibe announced her engagement to Brandon Frankel, a talent manager with Cameo. [17] [18] [19] The couple married in March 2021. [20]
In February 2024, Sidibe and her husband announced that she was pregnant with twins. [21]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Precious | Claireece Precious Jones | |
2011 | Yelling to the Sky | Latonya Williams | |
Tower Heist | Odessa Montero | ||
2012 | Seven Psychopaths | Sharice | |
2014 | White Bird in a Blizzard | Beth | |
Life Partners | Jen | ||
Top Five | Herself | Cameo | |
2015 | Gravy | Winketta | |
2016 | Grimsby | Banu | |
2019 | Come As You Are | Sam | |
2020 | Antebellum | Dawn | |
2022 | Asking for It | Rudy |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Saturday Night Live | Host | Episode: "Gabourey Sidibe/MGMT" |
2010–13 | The Big C | Andrea Jackson | 30 episodes |
2011 | Glenn Martin, DDS | Keisha | Voice, episode: "Date with Destiny" |
American Dad! | Herself (live action cutaway appearance) | Episode: "Stanny Tendergrass" | |
2012 | American Dad! | Party girl | Voice, episode: "Hot Water" |
2013–14 | American Horror Story: Coven | Queenie | 12 episodes |
2014 | American Horror Story: Freak Show | Regina Ross | 3 episodes |
2015–20 | Empire | Becky Williams | 90 episodes |
2015–17 | Difficult People | Denise | 12 episodes |
2016 | American Horror Story: Hotel | Queenie | Episode: "Battle Royale" |
Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio | Various | 10 episodes | |
Drunk History | Ella Fitzgerald | Episode: "Legends" | |
2017 | BoJack Horseman | Tamera | Voice, episode: "The Old Sugarman Place" |
2018 | American Horror Story: Apocalypse | Queenie | 5 episodes |
2021 | Santa Inc. | Goldie | 8 episodes |
2022 | American Horror Stories | Jaslyn Taylor | Episode: "Aura" |
All I Didn't Want for Christmas | Emily Harris | Television film | |
2023 | The Prank Panel [22] | Herself (host) |
Frances Hardman Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth Fisher on the television series Six Feet Under (2001–2005), for which she won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and received four Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She is also known for playing the older version of Moira O'Hara in season one of the television anthology series American Horror Story, which garnered Conroy her first Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television nomination, and as well a Primetime Emmy Awards nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. Conroy subsequently portrayed The Angel of Death, Myrtle Snow, Gloria Mott, Mama Polk, Bebe Babbitt, and Belle Noir on seven further seasons of the show: Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse, and Double Feature, respectively. Conroy is the fourth actor who has appeared in most seasons of the show. For her performances in Coven & Double Feature, she was nominated again for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.
Lee Daniels is an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter. His first producer credit was Monster's Ball (2001), for which Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making Daniels the first African-American film producer to solely produce an Oscar-winning film. He made his directorial debut with Shadowboxer in 2005 and has since then directed the films Precious (2009), The Paperboy, The Butler (2013) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021). Of these, Precious was the most critically acclaimed, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including two nominations for Daniels, for Best Director and Best Picture. Other films he has produced include The Woodsman (2004), Tennessee (2008), Pimp (2018) and Concrete Cowboy (2020).
Simone Sheffield is a Talent Manager, Television and Film Producer and Music Coordinator. Among her other works, she has managed Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai and Bipasha Basu.
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, or simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Its script was written by Geoffrey S. Fletcher, adapted from the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique, alongside Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, and Lenny Kravitz. This marked the acting debut of Sidibe, who portrays a young woman struggling against poverty and abuse. Filming took place in New York City from October to November 2007.
Alice Tan Ridley is an American gospel and R&B singer and the mother of actress Gabourey Sidibe. Ridley advanced to the semi-finals of the NBC television series America's Got Talent, after previously winning $25,000 in the pilot episode of 30 Seconds to Fame. Ridley released her debut album Never Lost My Way at the age of 63 in September 2016.
American Horror Story (AHS) is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the American Story media franchise, seasons of AHS are mostly conceived as self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters in a new setting within the same fictional universe, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events. Many actors appear in more than one season, usually playing a new character though sometimes as a returning character, and often playing multiple characters in a season. Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Lily Rabe have returned most frequently, with each having appeared in nine seasons, followed by Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare who both appear in eight; Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman appear in six, while other notable actors including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, and Jamie Brewer appear in five of the seasons.
The third season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Coven, is set in 2013 New Orleans and follows a coven of witches descended from Salem as they fight for survival and features flashbacks to the Salem witch trials in 1692, as well as the 1830s, 1910s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe, Evan Peters, Denis O'Hare, Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange, with all returning from previous seasons, except Roberts and Bates. The season marks the first to not feature cast mainstays Dylan McDermott and Zachary Quinto.
"Bitchcraft" is the premiere episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 9, 2013, on the cable network FX. The episode title is a portmanteau of the words bitch and witchcraft.
"The Axeman Cometh" is the sixth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on November 13, 2013, on the cable network FX. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV).
"The Replacements" is the third episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 23, 2013, on the cable network FX. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV).
"Boy Parts" is the second episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 16, 2013, on the cable network FX. The title is a reference to a line in this episode spoken by Madison Montgomery.
"The Dead" is the seventh episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on November 20, 2013, on the cable network FX. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV).
"The Sacred Taking" is the eighth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on December 4, 2013, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Ryan Murphy and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
"Head" is the ninth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on December 11, 2013, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Tim Minear and directed by Howard Deutch.
"Protect the Coven" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on January 15, 2014, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Jennifer Salt and directed by Bradley Buecker.
"Go to Hell" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on January 22, 2014, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Jessica Sharzer and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
The fourth season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Freak Show, is set in 1952 Jupiter, Florida, telling the story of one of the last remaining freak shows in the United States and their struggle for survival. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Michael Chiklis, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Denis O'Hare, Finn Wittrock, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange, with all returning from previous seasons, except newcomers Chiklis and Wittrock. The season marks the first not to be strictly anthological, with Lily Rabe, Naomi Grossman, and John Cromwell reprising their roles from the series' second cycle, Asylum.
Grace Byers is an American actress. She starred as Anika Calhoun in the Fox music-industry drama series, Empire from 2015 to 2018. In 2021, she began starring as Quinn Joseph in the Amazon Prime Video comedy series, Harlem. In 2022, Byers played a leading role in the comedy horror film, The Blackening.
The eighth season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Apocalypse, features the witches from the New Orleans coven as they battle the Antichrist and attempt to prevent the world from ending. The season is presented as a crossover between Murder House, Coven, and Hotel. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Adina Porter, Billie Lourd, Leslie Grossman, Cody Fern, Emma Roberts, Cheyenne Jackson and Kathy Bates, with all returning from previous seasons, except newcomer Fern.
I know that she meant well. I met Joan Cusack, who is my favorite-favorite, ... and I was at some industry party and she says, 'Are you an actress?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And she says, 'Oh, honey, you should really quit the business — it's so image-conscious. And I think she really, really meant it in a good way. ... But I was, like, 'Oh, but I love you. Please don't tell me to quit my job!'and as reported at Fisher, Kelly (April 26, 2012). "Gabourey Sidibe: Joan Cusack Told Me To Quit Show Business". HuffPost. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
My BFF proposed and now I get to hold him forever.