She may not have taken home the Oscar for Best Actress, but Gabourey Sidibe is a winner nevertheless. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry have big plans for the 26-year-old, whom they plucked from obscurity to play a troubled teen in their award-winning movie Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. “Her career is just beginning and they both feel she'll be brilliant in the acting profession,” a source tells BettyConfidential. “They are behind her one hundred percent.”

Read Best-Dressed at the 2010 Oscars

And that’s given Gabourey the confidence she needs to pursue her passion. “She is taking acting classes and planning on honing her craft as an actress,” reveals the source. “Gabourey feels if Oprah and Tyler have faith in her, others in Hollywood will, too. She’s just on top of the world.”

Gabourey, who can next be seen playing a bully in the upcoming film Yelling to the Sky, recently signed on to Showtime’s The Big C, which premieres in the fall. In the dark comedy series about a suburban mom and teacher (Laura Linney, a fellow Academy Award nominee) who has terminal cancer, Gabourey will play one of Laura’s students in a recurring role. The source reveals that Tyler is also creating a role specifically for the actress for his Madea franchise, in which her character will be entangled in the lives of Madea’s family. Even Oprah is going all-out to promote her young protege: she is consulting close friend and director Steven Spielberg about Gabourey’s future. “Oprah knows her time has come,” says the source.