Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe: Bringing Hope for "regular" Women and Girls

I have not had a chance to watch Precious, where Gabourey Sidibe plays the leading character.Her break out role has earned her lot of accolades, attention and an Academy Awards nomination in the Best Actress category.

To garner so much attention for your debut movie is something and Sidibe is no doubt a big talent. What is even bigger is Gabourey Sidibe's personality and her presence. I watched her captivate the crowd when she was at the Jay Leno show. Even Leno seemed impressed by her sense of humor.

You see, Sidibe is not like majority of Hollywood actresses. She is not the conventional pretty actress. She is not wafer thin, blond hair blue eye woman; neither is she the sexy full figured dark skinned stunner. Sidibe is regular looking woman who weighs more than 100 pounds; that makes her stand out in the Hollywood crowd.

Movie is a glamorous business, it is about showing and wowing the audience. Sometimes, acting skills are overlooked if the actor/actress looks great and can blurt out some line. That explains Megan Fox and couple of other looks only actresses. Have you ever see a average looking actress with great talent succeed in Hollywood? Don't count Meryl Streep-she is incomparable.Hollywood is obsessed with looks.

Couple of weeks back the news of Heidi Montag undergoing 10 plastic surgeries in a single day was everywhere. Montag is not eave 25 and already she felt the urge to fix herself. A teenager or a young woman who reads about this and then sees all the plastic perfect woman on screen everyday is under pressure to confirm. She is pushed to confirm to the definition of beauty set by the entertainment industry, no wonder every year hundreds of young girls and women choose various procedure to fix themselves. They are pushed to be "beautiful" by ignoring what they already have.

But the push back is also pronounced. When Tyra Banks stood up to let the world know that she has no problem with her not so size 0 body, the message was clear.No matter the growing number of young actress who go under the knife well before reaching 30, Hollywood is finally realizing that outside the tensile town there are real people, real families who are sick of being fed the unrealistic images.

Gabourey Sidibe's rise and success is a milestone in the struggle to make Hollywood and entertainment industry more inclusive and accepting of a different definition of beauty. Hopefully, there will more who will join this struggle and continue the push for change.