If anyone knows how to have a good time, it’s members of the non-profit Women in Film (WIF) organization attending a Malibu champagne breakfast.
A keynote interview with Academy Award-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe highlighted last Friday’s event, which kicked off shortly after 8 a.m. with dancing, Mimosas, networking, bidding on silent auction items and breakfast at the Malibu Inn’s Casa Escobar.
The annual event, organized by local chairperson Candace Bowen, marked the local WIF chapter’s 24th year of celebrating Black History Month.
Sidibe, who was nominated for Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for her 2009 performance in the film “Precious,” spoke during an in-depth interview with noted movie and television producer Kimberly Ogletree.
Sidibe said her acting has been influenced by “the amazing performances by black men and women” in “The Color Purple” and “Roots.”
“I wanted to be like them,” she said. “I wanted to do it the way I saw Whoopi Goldberg take on ‘The Color Purple.’”
The New York native was candid, unrehearsed and funny in speaking about how her background informed her acting career. Sidibe said her African-American mother and Senegalese father make her an “actual” African-American.
“It’s within me, I’ve always been black,” she joked. “My parents were very irresponsible; they let me watch ‘Eddie Murphy Raw’ when I was still in diapers!”
Sidibe, 30, has gone on to register film credits in “Tower Heist” and “Seven Psychopaths,” as well as several dozen TV episodes.
But Sidibe said the tremendous response to and Oscar buzz for “Precious” (2009), in which she played an illiterate teenager who suffers horrifying abuse at the hands of her parents, was initially difficult to deal with. It was her acting debut, after all.
“My stomach started to hurt, because it’s a huge thing. I wasn’t one of those scrappy 16-year olds who went out and got head shots and acting classes. I fell into this [role],” Sidibe said. “I thought, ‘I better not fumble.’ But I worked my ass off on that film—14-hour days for three months, six-day weeks, and a year-and-a-half flying to different countries to talk about it.”
Sidibe’s biggest personal challenge with fame has been learning to deal with the public. Strangers approaching her asking for hugs was a big change.
“I’m from New York, and we believe all strangers are crazy strangers,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many people start singing or dancing for me—it makes me feel so uncomfortable.”
The young actress has also made the transition into social media, which exposes public figures to an uglier side of fandom.
“I just started a Twitter account, and now have a hundred thousand followers, yet it’s ridiculous that a stranger can type something to you, and you’ll see it!” Sidibe said. “I’ve gotten racist comments… and the ‘American Horror’ Twitter fans are all 13-year olds. The things people write have an impact on me. Like, ‘I was in Target and you wouldn’t take a picture with me, [expletive]!’ I hold onto that, smiling even when I’m hurt.
“I don’t respond to the bad comments. I was told, ‘A dog may howl at the moon every single night, but the minute the moon howls back, that’s a story.’”
In giving advice to other actors, Sidibe said she strived to define herself outside of stereotypical roles, which in her case meant doing a lot of talk shows to show people she was different from her character in “Precious.”
“I think of myself as an actor, not a black actor.”
She chooses her own projects, and tells aspiring actors to be proactive. “It would be dumb to just sit there and wait for someone to offer me a job.”
Notes
• Sidibe was also presented with an award on behalf of WIF by Dolores Robinson, a political activist, talent manager and producer.
• The official program began when the crowd stood to sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” which is sometimes referred to as “The Black National Anthem.” The words were originally penned as a poem in 1900 by the principal of the college preparatory Stanton School, James Johnson, to introduce honored guest Booker T. Washington on Lincoln’s Birthday. The poem was later set to music by Johnson’s brother in 1905. It has been sung on special occasions by African-American groups ever since.