Jennifer Hudson

Born September 12, 1981

Jennifer Kate Hudson is an Academy Award-winning American actress and Grammy-nominated singer. She first gained notice as one of the finalists on the third season of the FOX television series American Idol. She went on to star as Effie White in the 2006 motion picture musical Dreamgirls for which she won numerous awards including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a SAG Award.

Acting Career
In November 2005, Hudson was cast in the prized role of Effie White, the role originally created in a legendary Broadway performance by Jennifer Holliday, for the film adaptation of the musical Dreamgirls, which also starred Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, and Eddie Murphy. Hudson won the role over hundreds of professional singers and actresses, including American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino. She said in The View that Fantasia called her and said:"Girl, you stole my part". Filming of Dreamgirls began on January 9, 2006, and the film went into limited release on December 25, 2006 and national release on January 12, 2007.

Hudson has won particular praise for her show-stopping onscreen rendition of the hit song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", the signature song of the role, which had earlier been recorded, and had already reached the status of musical standard, because of the definitive performance of Jennifer Holliday. The New York Observer described Hudson's performance of the song as "five mellifluous, molto vibrato minutes that have suddenly catapulted Ms. Hudson... into the position of front-runner for the best supporting actress Oscar." Newsweek said that when moviegoers hear Hudson sing the song, she "is going to raise goose bumps across the land." Variety wrote that Hudson's performance "calls to mind debuts like Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl or Bette Midler in The Rose, with a voice like the young Aretha."

As Effie White, Hudson has garnered twenty-nine awards from film critics as Best Supporting Actress and Breakthrough Performer of 2006. She won the Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role, dedicating the award to Florence Ballard (upon whom her Dreamgirls character was based), as well as friends Jasmine Trias, Fantasia Barrino, and the rest of the American Idol Season 3 finalists. In addition, she has been named Best Supporting Actress by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and also by the Screen Actors Guild. On February 7, 2007, Hudson was named Best Supporting Actress and Best Breakthrough Performance by the Black Reel Awards, awarded by the Foundation For The Advancement Of African-Americans In Film.

On February 25, 2007, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. At 25 years old, Hudson became the eighth youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She became only the third African-American to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, after Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind and Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost. Since Halle Berry remains the only African-American actress to win Best Actress, Jennifer also became the fourth African-American actress to win an acting award in Oscar history. She was also the first African-American to win an Oscar for his or her screen debut (see List of Academy Award records and List of Black Academy Award winners and nominees). Currently, she is also the only person to have gone from participating in a reality television series to becoming an Academy Award winner. During her acceptance speech Hudson said through tears of joy, "Oh my God, I have to just take this moment in. I cannot believe this. Look what God can do. I didn't think I was going to win." "If my grandmother was here to see me now. She was my biggest inspiration." She also concluded her speech by thanking Jennifer Holliday.

Hudson's version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" debuted at number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the January 13, 2007 issue. The Dreamgirls track has since become Hudson's first Top 10 hit, but not on the Hot 100, as the track registered a new peak at #7 on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay chart on February 24, 2007. The track has also reached #14 on the Hot R&B/HipHop Songs chart, and remixes of the song have seen Jennifer reach the #1 position on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart.

In addition, Hudson was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on June 18 along with 115 other individuals for 2007.

Biography from Wikipedia.


Filmography

1. The Secret Life of Bees (2009) .... Rosaleen
2. Sex and the City: The Movie (2008) .... Carrie's Assistant
3. Winged Creatures (2008) .... Kathy Hammet

Filmography from IMDB.

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