Since the beginning of film-making, directors have cast actors and actresses into roles based significantly on talent, often letting factors like age fall by the wayside. Age ain’t nothing but a number in Hollywood, and that’s evident when a 41-year-old Barber Streisand was cast to play a 17-year-old in Yentl, or a 34-year-old Stockard Channing was cast to play an 18-year-old girl in Grease. Let’s see what other actresses and actors are old enough to father or give birth to some of the characters they’ve played–or at least be a young aunt or uncle to them.

DONALD GLOVER

Image Source: WENN.com

Donald Glover, who currently stars as 24-year-old college student Troy Barnes on Community, is just marginally older than his character by 5 years, making Glover 29 years old.

Big screen adaptations of novels written by black authors are few and far between, which is precisely why we shouldn’t just support black movies, but black books as well – especially considering African-American achievements in literature are highly underrated. So definitely give these movies a watch, but do yourself one better and pick up the original books, because we already know that the movies are never ever as good as the original literary work

While some people watch movies and quietly root for the villain (no lie, I thought Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was bad a**!), many of us do the complete opposite–we watch these cocky, disrespectful, distasteful and often violent characters with disgust. Some are so good at being bad that we equate the actors with these characters for a long time, and some are eerily effective, to the point that you watch the character, act like you know them, and scoff at the fact that you dislike them so much. If you ever say, “UGH!” when you watch these movies, or shake your head at these characters a few times, then you’ll probably agree that they were villains you loved to hate.

Sanaa Lathan in The Family That Preys

If you watched just 30 minutes of The Family That Preys and viewed Lathan as Andrea, you were probably just as sick of her as we were. She was a conniving cheater, dogging out her hard-working and fine man (Rockmond Dunbar) for the town’s stuck-up socialite and trust-fund baby. And in the end, she revealed that *SPOILER* the son her husband thought was his blood was a product of her affair. She didn’t even look remorseful at all! Who else wanted to reach through the screen and shake her real good???

From ESSENCE

Academy Award-nominated actress Gaboury Sidibe is on top of her game and clearly living her life like it’s golden. Whether she’s telling behind-the-scenes stories from her latest film, Yelling to the Sky, or talking about her favorite date night spots, she is candid and never misses an opportunity to share a laugh.

On whether or not she prepped for her new movie Yelling to the Sky:

Not a lot. I’m from Bed-Stuy, and I grew up in Harlem so all of the things that happened in the film I’ve seen in real life. So I guess I’ve always been preparing to take on a role like that. That’s why it was so honest, and it was so familiar for me so I didn’t have to do a lot of research at all.

About that guy we saw her with last year:

Wait, what? (laughs) That was like a year and some change, it almost two years ago! That boy has been gone. Game over. That was my ex-boyfriend, and he is very, very “ex” now. I am currently not dating anyone, or maybe I am dating everyone. I love being a grown woman in my own apartment in New York City. You know hanging out with who I want to. I don’t have to call home to make sure some man knows where I am all the time. I am really enjoying that life right now.

Check out the hilarious Gabourey and the full interview over at ESSENCE

Black women aren’t always given the opportunity to portray strong or positive female leading characters on-screen, particularly because Hollywood is dominated by men…white men. Somehow, however, the following women have struck gold in films and television shows that would have them act as outstanding characters, showcasing strength and character in multiple capacities, depicting black women who are struggling with death, romance, violence, revenge, scandal, betrayal or simply trying to survive–all in a gracious and entertaining way.

“Scandal”: Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington stars in ABC’s Scandal as crisis manager, Olivia Pope. Pope’s character is loosely based on the real life crisis manager, Judy Smith. Washington portrays Pope as a headstrong, heavy-hearted woman who personally bears each burden that presents itself in her life. Pope leads a team of attorneys who are tasked with the goal of solving issues for politicians, celebrities and athletes. Scandal doesn’t elude Pope’s personal life, after all, she was carrying on an affair with the president of the United States–making the show all the more interesting.

If you needed another reason to be a fan of Gabourey Sidibe, the words she spoke at a recent Women’s Inspiration and Enterprise conference in NYC last week just might give you what you’re looking for. The actress, who receives a lot of rude remarks and inquiries about her weight, touched on people’s obsession with her size, and the struggle she dealt with to feel confident about who she was as a young woman. And she also touched on how even with the confidence she gained, she still gets her feelings hurt by how cruel Hollywood and the media can be. According to fanshare.com, Sidibe had this to say about how finally loving herself actually helped her take on the role of Precious:

“I didn’t really get to grow up hearing that I was beautiful a lot, or that I was worth anything nor did I grow up seeing myself on TV. Then at some point when I was 21 or 22 I just decided that life wasn’t worth living if I wasn’t happy with myself so I just took all the steps that I could to figure out how to love myself and become confident. Truthfully speaking if I hadn’t found this person before that movie [Precious] I wouldn’t have even be in that movie.”

But it doesn’t help when magazines and sites try to make a mockery of her and her size:

“People see me as a confident person but I get shaken a lot, especially being in this business. A few weeks ago I was on vacation and I went into a CVS [a pharmacy chain of shops in the US] and as I’m paying I see a picture of myself on the cover of a magazine and they’re guesstimating what my weight is? The headline was ‘Gabourey Sidibe 250 pounds.”

But even with scenarios like that occurring constantly, Gabby tries to keep her head up in the midst of the media’s bull***, saying, “I have to keep going and living my life, so when things like that upset me I have to find things that build my confidence back up.”

I respect Gabby’s honesty, and I know it has to be a constant struggle for her with more time spent focused on her body type than on her talents these days. And while you might not agree with her size or her confidence, it would be nice if folks let her live and lead her life the way she sees fit. Clearly she’s aware of her size, and she’s decided to embrace it.

What are your thoughts on Gabby’s comments?

More on Madame Noire!

• Did You Know They Dated!? 11 Celebrity Couples You Might Have Forgotten About
• Loose Lipped Lovers: 10 Celeb Men Who Kiss & Tell
• Where Are They Now? Contestants from “The White Rapper Show” & “Miss Rap Supreme”
• True Life: He Asked Me To Pay For Our Date
• Old School Things I Miss: When Men Used To Know How To Dance, And Not Just Grind On Folks All The Time

There was a time when, not too long ago, I used to criticize my friends for not patronizing documentaries and serious movies about this struggle or that struggle. I assumed the masses were stupid for going to spend their money on fantasy films or whichever Marvel comics-based film was being released that weekend at the movie theaters. After all, I believed they were turning their back on enrichment and education all for the sake of staying insulated in their ignorance.

That was in high school.

My, things have changed for me. When co-workers invited me to see “Bully,” the documentary about (you can guess) bullying in high schools, I quickly declined. I never went to see “Precious” or “For Colored Girls” or “Red Tails,” simply because I didn’t want to be challenged emotionally. I knew these movies would make me angry or get me upset. And honestly, I feel that I can no longer afford to compromise my emotional state…even for two hours. .

Now I get it.

I understand why folks escape reality with fantasy films and comedies. These days, I only check for romantic comedies that promises a light-hearted experience.  Think Like A Man and Bridesmaids are my type of flicks.

My evolution is not as simple as me becoming less interested in understanding the struggles of others, but it also has a lot to do with my own sense of helplessness in the world. I remember watching “Born Into Brothels,” and being incensed by something so out of my control. After watching movies that had to to with the civil rights struggle, I would stew for weeks about the plight of Black America and worry myself sick about our inability to really come together as a people.

As I got older, I became more aware just how much these movies affected me. My decision to abstain from these more serious-natured films is selfish in a way but my decision to do so is about manipulating the happy times and decreasing the sense of gloom I channeled from some of these movies. Although I do watch documentaries and historical movies from time to time, they now make up only 20 percent of my entertainment consumption as opposed to 80 percent.

I like a good uplifting movie. With that admission, I’ve joined the camp I used to criticize and still wonder if I should feel guilty about creating a distance between myself and the ails of the world…

Does what you watch affect you personally? 

More on Madame Noire!

• Golden Boys: A Final Look At Olympics Cuties From Across The World!
• Say It Ain’t So! Chad Johnson Arrested for Headbutting Evelyn Lozada
• Show ‘Em What You Working With! Video Vixens Who’ve Moved On From Shaking It Fast!
• Men Are Like Chips, You Can’t Have Just One: The 5 Boos You Need In Your Life
• The Good Guy Allergies: Why Is It That Good Guys Bore Me?
• Somebody Lied to You And Your Lacefront: 9 Celebs Who Need a Lacefront Wig Intervention
• Bajan, Baby! 10 Of Our Favorite Celebrities of Barbadian Descent (And A Few Random Surprises…)

It’s hard to picture anyone but Gabourey Sidibe playing the acclaimed role of “Precious” in Lee Daniels’ film, but in her new book, I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, Jennifer Hudson reveals that she was offered the lead role but turned it down.

J Hud says the opportunity came along right after her role in “Dreamgirls,” when she had first lost weight and she knew she’d have to gain it all back to play the part. She also didn’t want to be type-cast.

She writes, “I had done that with Effie, and as much as I was moved by this film, I wanted to try a role that had nothing whatsoever to do with my weight.”

That obviously won’t be an issue anymore with Jennifer’s new slim figure, but even at her previous size, it’s hard to imagine her as Precious.

Can you picture Jennifer Hudson in the role of Precious? Do you think turning down the part was a good career move?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• 7 Negative Thoughts To Stay Away From When Single
• Veiled Vows: Couples Who Married On The Low…
• Captain Save Em’: Celebrity Men Who…Well You Know
• They Love Their Mamas: A Gallery of Rappers and Their Mommies
• The Problem with the Word Homewrecker
• The Real, Real Basketball Wives of The NBA

by Charing Ball

So over the weekend, I re-watched Lee Daniel’s Precious, with the expectation that perhaps I would feel differently about it than the first time I saw the movie.

The first time I saw the movie was at a local film festival in which Lee Daniels and a still unknown Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe were in attendance. I remember vividly the people around me laughing and making fun of the main character, especially at the part when Clarice Precious Jones steals a bucket of fried chicken from the soul food joint and the part of the film when crazy Mary curses out Precious with the line, “You better go down to the welfare.”  That would instantly become the signature catch phrase from the movie.

The first time I saw it, I just felt that whatever redeeming, moralistic value the film had would be lost in the sheer sensationalism of Precious.  Anyway, that was two years ago and there is no need in rehashing that debate again.  Everyone has pretty much moved on – well almost.

Gabby Sidibe sure has.  Despite the “concern” from those, who felt that Hollywood, with its fixations of petite starlets, wouldn’t make room for a woman that defies conventional standards of beauty, Sidibe has landed various roles in movies and television including Yelling To The Sky and The Big C.  And most recently, she played a wisecracking, money-jacking Jamaican maid in the new Eddie Murphy comedy Tower Heist. Yet despite her ability to crave a way for her in tinsel town, folk just can’t seem to get over her roots.  Like, how on Friday, I was driving in to work, listening to the radio and caught the end of a Gabby Sidibe interview on the radio, in which she was promoting the Tower Heist movie. After the interview, The DJ said, ”okay, I wanna thank Precious for calling in today…” Now that’s just messed up.

And unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident. Everyone calls that girl Precious like it’s her real name. In fact a typical conversation around Sidibe goes something like this: Me: “So have you heard about Gabby Sidibe’s new role?” Random Person: “Nuh-uh. Who is that?” Me: *eye rolls* “Precious.” Random Person: “Ooh yeah. Precious. Why didn’t you just say Precious?” Because that’s not her damn name everyone. I mean no one ever confuses Halle Berry for Catwoman or Angela Bassett for Tina Turner. So why can’t folks seem to separate Sidibe, the person, from the bleak character in which she played in the film?

Okay, I sort of get it and in some ways, the confusion is understandable:  Just like the hero in Precious the film, Sidibe is an obese dark-skinned woman.  And that is pretty much where the parallels end. In real life, Sidibe is the completely opposite. A woman, who comes from a loving home and has not, as far as we know, suffered any childhood trauma such as rape, abuse and incest as what was experienced by her character.  Yet Sidibe finds herself in the awkward position of correcting people who have and continue to confuse the movie as some sort of documentary of her life.

Honestly I think that folks do this because she represents the two things that Americans, but more specifically Black folks, loathe the most: being fat and being dark-skinned.  Whether we like to admit it or not, people subconsciously relate very negative traits and stereotypes to both of those clusters of people.  Dark skinned people are ugly while fat people are lazy.  Part of the reason is how society defines beauty and worth, which tends to hinge on being lighter and having thinner aesthetic.

And although we are a country of fatties and most folks in the Black community probably have skin-tones and facial features closer to Sidibe, we don’t feel very much sympathy to characters, who go against the grain of what is suppose to be normal.  Therefore, it is much more easier to redefine Sidibe as Precious, the abused, downtrodden character worthy of our pity, or more accurately, our ridicule, than to see her as the bubbly and fun-loving, sexual, comfortable-in-her-skin, woman that she truly is.  And yeah, that kind of sucks.

Charing Ball is the author of the blog People, Places & Things.

More on Madame Noire!

• Sliding Off: Celebs Who Left the Stripper Pole for Stardom
• 7 Questions To Ask Yourself After A Breakup
• The 5 Best Black Fashion Tumblrs
• Heatless Ways You Can Achieve Luscious Curls
• Statement Earrings: The Crazy, The Hot, and The Cool
• They’re How Old? Celebrity Gals Who Look Much Older Than Their “Real Age”
• The ‘Before I Get Married’ Bucket List

Have you ever noticed how often black women are used to meet the “big girl” quotas in advertisements and television programming? The Dove beauty commercials in which the only black woman is plus-sized immediately comes to mind.

And, while this sort of typecasting is certainly nothing new, it seems like it has received a jolt of energy since Gabourey Sidibe’s Oscar-nominated performance in Precious. A performance that I, honestly, am not sure was so moving because of her acting abilities or the prowess of the casting director, but because her physical appearance was the perfect portrayal of the character.

Like Howard Stern (but in very different words), I didn’t see her getting much, if any, subsequent work. But Sidibe has managed to land roles in Showtime’s The Big C, Tower Heist with Eddie Murphy and the Sundance Lab project Yelling to the Sky alongside Zoe Kravitz, where she plays a bully.

She is indeed a working actress and, perhaps, to credit for Amber Riley’s roles on Glee, who received a nod from E! channel’s Fashion Police as one of the best dressed at the 2010 Emmy Awards. You see, the media’s love affair with Gabourey Sidibe opened the door wider for heavier (okay, obese) black girls everywhere as if people wanted to see more, forgetting two things: It is an unfair representation and obesity is very unhealthy.

Black women are constantly fighting the general assumption that most of us are fat, and the last things we need are more big girls on television and in film. It’s not that they do not deserve representation, but black women shouldn’t carry the big-girl torch as our norm. It only validates the belief that (a lot of) extra meat on your bones is okay. And in reality, it’s not. Two hundred pounds doesn’t look good on any woman. There is a reason Sidibe’s ELLE magazine cover was practically a headshot.

Furthermore, it is an early death sentence. Diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, colon cancer, gallbladder disease—you can have them all if you’d like. Women with a BMI index greater than 30 are considered obese, and roughly 51 percent of black women ages 20 and over qualify. Obesity is a real health concern in our community. And while the successes of women like Sidibe should be celebrated, someone should also be pushing her to lose weight—for life’s sake. Two years later, I should be applauding her for shedding pounds, not watching late-night promotional appearances and totally missing her cute personality because I’m thinking, “Wow…she’s really big. That can’t be healthy.”

Black women are not “naturally” bigger than other groups of women, and it is time that this is projected through our entertainment and media figures. But, first, they have to drop the weight. When that happens legions of fans will be empowered to do so, too.

More on Madame Noire!

• J Hud & Hubby Split: The Cost of Her Weight Loss?
• Dear White Folks: Just Say No to Blackface This Halloween
• 6 Occasions When It’s Okay To Be Mean To Your Man
• Celebs That Could & Should Quit Their Days Jobs… To Model
• Ethnic Specific: Which White Products are Good for Black Hair?
• 7 Things That Should Never Happen On A First Date
• Guess Who?: Who Did These Babies Become?