American comedienne Mo'Nique won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal of an abusive mother in the gritty urban drama Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. Here are some facts about Mo'Nique.
- She has said she was molested by a family member, an experience she drew on to play Mary Jones, a mentally ill woman who allows her daughter Precious to be raped by her father.
- Mo'Nique said her big challenge was to get audiences to sympathise with her monstrous character.
- Mo'Nique was born Monique Imes near Baltimore, Maryland, on December 11, 1967.
- The former phone-sex company supervisor started out as a stand-up comic in 1991, when she was a 23-year-old wife and mother.
- She starred on the UPN urban comedy The Parkers for five years and appeared in such films as Soul Plane and Phat Girlz.
- She previously worked with Precious director Lee Daniels in his 2005 thriller Shadowboxer.
- She has been married three times, and has three sons.
- "I love attention and I make no apologies for that," she told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2009.
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