10 Actors Who Won Everyone Over With ONE Performance

Comedian-actress Mo'Nique - the star of Hair Show, Phat Girlz, and Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins - well and truly obliterated the expectations of her prior work with her sublime, Oscar-winning performance in Precious as the title character's abusive mother Mary.

Mo'Nique bares not a shred of her popular comedienne persona throughout the film, cutting an absolutely terrifying presence as a monstrous parental figure who is herself also a victim of abuse.

It's a hugely transformative performance, and such a far cry from Mo'Nique's body of work both before and since that it suggests audiences should probably be a little less closed-minded when it comes to actors primarily known for comedy taking a stab at drama.

While stunt casting can absolutely be detrimental to a movie's quality, in this case director Lee Daniels clearly knew what he was doing when he hired Mo'Nique, and she held nothing back.