It is rare for any actor to receive critical acclaim and awards buzz long before their film’s nationwide theatrical release. But Jennifer Hudson joined that elite league in 2006, when her performance in the big screen adaptation of the stage musical, “Dreamgirls” was touted as a shoe-in for all major acting awards – even before the movie premiered in theaters. In February of that year, she was even named “Female Star of Tomorrow” by ShoWest (the film industry’s largest annual convention). It all amounted to an impressive debut for a shy and sweet Midwestern girl who never had any formal training in music and acting and whose biggest prior credit was being unanimously voted off “American Idol” (Fox, 2002- ) in the show’s third season.
Born on Sept. 12, 1981, Jennifer Kate Hudson grew up in Chicago, IL and started singing in her church choir at the age of seven. Her late maternal grandmother, Julia Kate Hudson, also sang for the church, and became Hudson’s vocal inspiration. Throughout elementary and high school, Hudson participated in various talent shows and productions that honed her skills as a singer. Her melodic gifts landed Hudson a singing contract with the Disney Cruise Ship line, the “Disney Wonder,” where she portrayed Calliope – a main character in the ship’s entertainment extravaganza. The show, which the singer considered a huge milestone in her life, ran from February to August of 2003, and inspired Hudson to pursue her chosen career much more seriously than ever before.
In the summer of 2003, Hudson found herself at a crossroads in her life. She had to decide between renewing her contract with Disney Cruise Ships or flying to Atlanta, GA to audition for the Fox network reality competition series, “American Idol: Season 3.” Thankfully, Jennifer followed her heart and wisely chose the latter – considering that at this time “Idol” had already made pop music superstars out of previous winners and runners-up Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Clay Aiken. With her commanding vocals and charming personality, Hudson was among 70,000 hopefuls in the season’s audition process. She did not make it through the semifinal eliminations, but was later brought back to the show as “Idol” judge Randy Jackson’s wildcard pick, as he had been especially wowed by Hudson’s vocal range and could not imagine the Top 12 without her. He was right. She became an instant favorite with her renditions of songs by John Lennon, Barry Manilow, and Whitney Houston. One of the season’s celebrity judges Sir Elton John even called Hudson “the best of the lot” after she covered his song “Circle of Life.”
In April of 2004, the bottom three in “American Idol” included the season’s powerhouse singers – dubbed “the divas” – Hudson, LaToya London, and Fantasia Barrino. Unfortunately, it was the end of the line for Hudson, as she was voted off the show later in the month. A media firestorm soon followed, as people wondered if the fact that the three singers were all African-American had something to do with them ending up in the bottom three. There was also news that a severe power outage in Hudson’s hometown affected the voting. The third season commenced with Barrino taking the title as the new American Idol.
After the season ended, Hudson went on tour with her fellow Idols. She was away from the limelight for a few years, until November 2005 when she came out of nowhere to win the role of Effie White in the film adaptation of the stage musical “Dreamgirls.” Hudson auditioned against and beat out hundreds of other singers and actresses – including in a sweet bit of irony, “Idol” winner Barrino – for the same role that made a star of singer Jennifer Holliday in the early 1980s staged Broadway production. This time around, the film version was chocked full with a mega-watt cast, including Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx, (for 2004’s “Ray”), comedy legend Eddie Murphy, and real-life pop diva Beyoncé Knowles – all of them directed admirably by Bill Condon. Even before the film was released on Christmas day of 2006, Hudson had all of Hollywood talking about her possibilities as a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. And critics – including a certain Simon Cowell who had so easily dismissed her on “Idol” – were blown away by her rendition of the show’s signature theme song, “And I am Telling You I'm Not Going.” At the end of 2006 and into early 2007, the award nominations began rolling in for Hudson, who received a nod as well as a surprising win at the Golden Globe Awards for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, making her the odds-on favorite to win after being nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the 79th Annual Academy Awards. The bet makers were right. A true Cinderella story of the night, Hudson surprised virtually no one by taking home the coveted award.
The music industry also took note of Hudson’s high voltage performance in the highly anticipated musical. In addition to her acting duties on screen, she sang on rocker Meat Loaf’s 2006 album, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose, specifically on the single, “The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be.” Hudson was also signed to Clive Davis’ J Records in October 2006 and spent the next couple of years recording her debut album, Jennifer Hudson, which was released in September 2008 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, though reviews for the effort were mixed. Prior to the album’s release, Hudson joined the cast of the highly anticipated movie version of “Sex and the City” (2008), playing the assistant to Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). She later co-starred in “The Secret Life of Bees” (2008), playing the caregiver and only friend of a 14-year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) who flees her hometown and her troubled relationship with her father before being taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys).
But just as Hudson was enjoying her success on both the big screen and on music charts, she experienced the double tragedy of losing both her mother, Darnell, and her older brother, Jason, to a double domestic murder. Both bodies were found shotgunned to death on Oct. 24, 2008 in Darnell's southside Chicago home, sending Hudson racing home from Florida where she had been staying. Making the crime even more painful, Hudson's seven-year-old nephew, Julian, went missing from the home. Along with her sister, Julia – Julian's mother – the Oscar winner offered a $100,000 reward for his safe return, which precipitated an Amber Alert and FBI intervention. Days later, however, police discovered a stolen truck belonging to Jason, along with the body of a young African-American child inside, that was later confirmed as, indeed, Hudson's nephew.