Precious chance: unknown takes on Mirren, Bullock

Can Gabourey Sidibe, the young Harlem newcomer who plays an obese and abused black teenager in Precious, beat some of the world’s top screen actresses to a Golden Globe this Sunday? The first-time actress is up against the former Oscar-winner Helen Mirren and Sandra Bullock, who recently became the most bankable actress in Hollywood, according to Forbes magazine.

Sidibe, 26, had never acted before taking the part of Precious, a 16-year-old illiterate girl who is abused by her mother and made pregnant by her father. She won the role over 500 other young women.  
 
In real life Sidibe is nothing like the hunched, locked-down Precious, making her performance all the more stunning. In interviews she has proved to be lively and quick-witted. After accepting an award for breakthrough performance at the National Board of Review Awards on Tuesday night she cheekily quipped, "George Clooney, let's get a drink."
 
However, Sidibe is under no illusions that she is a rarity in Hollywood with her dark skin and plus-size figure. She enjoys being "the alien in the room", she said in a recent interview.  
 
"I don't try to live up to the standards of Hollywood or any of that - I know that I'm different and I celebrate it," she said. "There's more of me in the world than there are of Reese Witherspoon but that's not reflected at these events. So I'm doing it for the rest that are like me. I'm doing it for those people."

Her performance has received widespread critical claim yet Sidibe faces tough competition for best actress in a drama at the Globes,  to be hosted this year by British comedian Ricky Gervais. Mirren is in the running for her role as the Countess Tolstoy in the historical drama The Last Station while Bullock is up for her much-praised performance in the true-life drama The Blind Side. Also nominated are the British actresses Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria and Carey Mulligan for An Education.

Based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire, real name Ramona Lofton, Precious is directed by Lee Daniels. The film is also nominated for best film drama at the Globes while the comedian Mo'Nique, who plays Precious's mother, is in the running for best supporting actress.

Halle Berry, the star of Daniels's 2001 film Monster's Ball, which he produced, became the first African-American woman to win a best actress Oscar. If Sidibe triumphs at the Globes, the "random girl from Harlem", as she has called herself, could also be on her way to Oscar glory. ·