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The 33-year-old actress shocked fans after showing off her weight loss on the red carpet, and has channeled her newfound confidence into modeling for plus-size clothing line Lane Bryant.
Click through the gallery to see the Oscar nominee's amazing transformation!
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March 2013
Gabourey made her acting debut in the Oscar-nominated movie Precious.
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August 2014
From 2010-2013, she starred in the Showtime hit The Big C alongside Laura Linney.
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January 2015
She also appeared on the third and fourth seasons of American Horror Story portraying a young witch and a secretarial school student respectively.
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August 2015
She reunited with her Precious director Lee Daniels on the set of the FOX TV show Empire in 2015, where she plays Becky Williams before being promoted to a series regular in Season 2.
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December 2015
She spoke out against haters following a steamy sex scene on an episode of Empire.
"I’m really proud of the work that I’ve done,” she said. “I’m really, really proud of it. I think the scene was really fun and lovely and sexy. I felt beautiful, and I felt comfortable, and I didn’t look nervous at all, and I was kind of nervous, so I’m really glad that that didn’t come across.”
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April 2016
She continued, "Also, yes. I, a plus sized, dark-skinned woman, had a love scene on primetime television. I keep hearing that people are ‘hating’ on it. I’m not sure how anyone could hate on love but that’s okay. You may have your memes. Honestly, I’m at work too busy to check Twitter anyway. #Booked.”
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July 2016
In 2016, she appeared as Ella Fitzgerald in an episode of Drunk History.
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September 2016
She recently opened up about being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and revealed she underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery to lose weight.
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November 2016
"It has taken me years to realize that what I was born with is all beautiful,” she wrote in her upcoming memoir, This is Just My Face. “I did not get this surgery to be beautiful. I did it so I can walk around comfortably in heels. I want to do a cartwheel. I want not to be in pain every time I walk up a flight of stairs.”
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February 2017
She continued, "The surgery wasn’t the easy way out. I wasn’t cheating by getting it done. I wouldn’t have been able to lose as much as I’ve lost without it."
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March 2017
She also revealed she is not counting pounds.
"I have a goal right now, and I’m almost there,” she wrote. “And then once I’ve got it, I’ll set another. But my starting weight and my goal weight, they’re personal. If too many people are involved, I’ll shut down.”
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Sept. 2017
However, don't congratulate her on her weight loss. "It doesn’t rock me. It just annoys me because I’m just like, don’t congratulate me on that,” she told Refinery 29. “If you’re going to congratulate me on my weight loss, also congratulate me every time I pee. Congratulate me every time I’m burping. Because my body actually has nothing to do with you, and I don’t really need your support for it."