Her breakthrough came with the period drama film Fences (2016), for which she received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
[14] In January 2019, Sidney was cast in the lead role of Amy Bellafonte in the fox series The Passage, for which her performance was critically acclaimed.
In the same year, she starred as Riley in the Netflix comedic special Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History, which was released in February.
[18] She earned critical acclaim for the role,[19] with Variety magazine praising her for "handling both the dramatic and athletic dimensions of their characters across a span of approximately three years.
[24][25] In January 2022, Sidney was tapped to play Claudette Colvin in the drama film Spark, directed by Anthony Mackie, which is his directorial debut.