A young Sidibe worked as a phone sex operator. Yep — the one who fields calls for men looking for a some cellular stimulation. "I was actually pretty good at it,” she tells the site of her surprising job choice. "I did it for two months before I was promoted." In total, though, she ended up working there for three years, until she was 24. She says that pretending to be different women on the phone helped her hone her acting and voice skills before she had her hugely impressive acting debut as the title character in Precious, although she was embarrassed to admit it at the time.