Actress and author Gabourey Sidibe
Actress and author Gabourey Sidibe will be the featured speaker at the spring 2018 Women’s History Cultural Dinner at 5 p.m. on April 5 in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center.
Tickets for the event are currently on sale through March 29 and can be purchased online at Housing.IllinoisState.edu. Students with a meal plan can exchange one meal swipe for a ticket to this event. Doors for the dinner will open at 4:30 p.m.
Sidibe is best known for her first film, a powerful portrayal of the title character in Lee Daniels’ Academy Award-nominated film, Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.
Her role as “Precious,” led to Sidibe receiving Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress as well as Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics, and British Academy Film Award nominations.
She won the Independent Spirit Award and an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress, the Breakthrough Performance Award from The National Board of Review, and the Vanguard Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Sidibe’s accomplishments are not limited to the big screen. She has also played a role on the hit television show American Horror Story, can currently be seen as “Becky” on Empire, and reprising her role of “Denise” in season three of Difficult People.
Sidibe is back in the news after she released a memoir in May 2017 titled, This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare, in which she describes what her life has been like before, during, and after her Precious fame.
The spring 2018 Women’s History Cultural Dinner celebrates influential women of the past, present, and future. The evening will be highlighted with a speech from Sidibe.
This event is sponsored by University Housing Services in cooperation with the Association of Residence Halls, Tri-Towers Area Government, Tri-Towers Diversity Coalition, and Event Management, Dining and Hospitality.
If special accommodations are needed to fully participate in this program, please contact Leslie Green at (309) 438-5967. Please allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation.
Find more information on cultural dinners here.
