Gabourey Sidibe

“I don't fixate on other people's opinions of my body.”

“I'm not a big fan of doing what my mother wants me to do, like any daughter.”

“One of my personal plights in this business is about playing 'The Sassy Black Girl.'”

“Being an actress wasn't a plan at all, so what's happened to me is very strange. Life isn't very normal, even though I'm still very much a normal girl. I ride the subway, I ride the bus, and all of that.”

“I'm just a girl from Harlem who ended up in the right place at the right time.”

“I'm really, really interested in the job of acting. I can really care less about being famous. I'm more about the work, and 'The Big C' was amazing, so I wanted to be a part of it.”

“I think people look at me and don't expect much. Even though, I expect a whole lot.”

“While 'Precious' isn't a real person, it's someone's story, and it's too many peoples' story.”

“Well, I'm certainly glad that I was nominated for an Oscar. There is certainly a respect that comes with that nod. Also, a compliment that comes with it, too. Not that I really know what I'm doing. In a lot of ways I feel like some child on set, or like a kid that snuck in the back door.”

“I can flip my tongue over. Only one in 10,000 people can. I learned that at Ripley's Believe It or Not!”

“Precious, she gets hit by life so many different ways and so many times, but she doesn't yield to it. She continues to get up and she continues to struggle for a better life.”

“I could have easily never worked again after 'Precious.' I could be back at my receptionist job and no one would be surprised, but I'm having a very crazy little career that no one thought would happen. Although that was never the plan.”

“One of my favorite - well, my favorite, favorite, absolute favorite event to go to is Alfre Woodard has a party that I call the blacktress party. It's, like, black actresses that either have been nominated for an Oscar or should have been, and it sort of is just a night where we all get in a room and we get to celebrate each other.”

“I've grown up with girls that are like Precious. I've grown up with people that are like everyone that I read about in that book. And so years later, when I was given the role, I just felt a huge responsibility to show the reality of that situation and to show that we're not making it up.”

“I didn't want to be an actress at all, or famous even. I certainly enjoy acting now, absolutely. Time will tell whether or not I enjoy fame.”

“My Plan A was to be a psychologist. I thought I would be a receptionist. I'm always middle of the road and very normal. I've always wanted a normal life, and this is what I got.”

“Well, I was a big fan of the book and therein a huge fan of the girl Precious. And so I felt like I knew this girl. I felt like I'd grown up alongside her. I felt like she was in my family. She was my friend and she was like people I didn't want to be friends with.”

“Your body is your temple, it's your home, and you must decorate it.”

“It's so weird to turn on a switch and be the role model for all women, for all African-Americans. That doesn't happen that easily. It just doesn't. And so I don't act up in public and I don't do anything weird - because my sisters are watching me, not because the world is watching me.”

“The thing about Precious, she's so far from a Hollywood character. She's so honest and real, I definitely felt like I knew her.”