Filed under: Television
Recently, Gabourey Sidibe made her television debut on Showtime's original series 'The Big C,' however the Academy Award nominee isn't the only family member with 'Talent.'
Since auditioning for 'America's Got Talent' in March, Sidibe's mother, Alice Tan Ridley, has wowed judges and viewers across the nation with her captivating performances, including a cover of Gladys Knight's 'Midnight Train to Georgia.'
For Ridley, performing among thousands of commuters in New York City's subway stations was enough to land the 58-year-old singer on national television.
"I would not be entering the competition if I did not think I could do well," Ridley told Radar Online earlier this year. "Singing is what I do, and I know I can do this."
"I'm proud of my daughter, and hopefully 'America's Got Talent' will give me the chance to shine, and I'm really looking forward to the audition and doing well if I get through."
Although Ridley's talents may have been overshadowed in recent weeks due to 10-year-old contestant Jackie Evancho's lip-synching controversy, Judge Howie Mandel expressed his admiration over the former nursery school teacher's stage performance.
"What an amazing voice," he said in June, following her rendition of Etta James' 'At Last.' "I love what you did, and you deserve to be heard by much more than everyone on the train."
Earlier in the Georgia native's singing career, she was invited by the Moroccan ambassador to tour the country, which also led to performances in Argentina, Germany and Uruguay.
Among the finalist vying for the final five slots aside from Ridley are dancers Haspop and Studio One Young Beast Society, magicians Murray and Michael Grasso, aerialists Michael Lipari and Ashleigh Dejon, stunt bike rider Jeremy VanSchoonhoven, pianist Maestro Alexander Bui, black light performers Fighting Gravity, and singers Debra Romer, Jackie Evancho and Nathaniel Kenyon.
See who will advance on 'America's Got Talent' tonight at 9 p.m./ET (following President Barack Obama's speech) on NBC.