Gabourey Sidibe Wins the Coveted Oprah Award
Of all the Oscar "losers," Gabourey Sidibe surely has the most fun. On the red carpet before the ceremony, Sidibe, who had never so much as auditioned for a role before Precious, calls the Oscar show her "prom night" and says of her ample blue frock, "If fashion was porn, this dress is the money shot." Onstage at the start of the show with other Best Actress nominees, she gives a playful flounce at the mention of her name. And toward the end, during the part when notables give little speeches to the nominees, who usually wriggle uncomfortably at the eulogies, Sidibe smiles and cries with pride as TV queen Oprah Winfrey pays tribute to the lighthearted young woman's eerie ability to live inside the skin of abused, illiterate, miserable Precious Jones. "And precious," Winfrey concludes, "is the first of many adjectives coming your way."