Sep 12, 1981

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Born Jennifer Kate Hudson on September 12, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois, she
earned minor attention as one of the twelve finalists (she came in an
underwhelming sixth runner-up) on the third season of the amazingly
popular FOX
reality/talent-search TV series in 2004. Perhaps her plus size, lack of
viewer
popularity and her overly gospel style were out of sync with the
"American Idol"
image. Prior to this Hudson grew up singing in gospel choirs. Her relative
inexperience included act... ... (read more...) ing in community theater productions, singing on
cruise lines and touring for Disney in "Hercules: The Musical". Hudson
played
out the "American Idol" summer tour and held on to her "15 minutes" of
fame as
long as possible by performing on the road in concerts for the next two
years. She found her way into the auditioning room for the coveted role
of Effie
Melody White, the cast-off member of a popular 60s Supremes-like girl group
in the long-awaited film version of the exceedingly popular Broadway musical
"Dreamgirls". Among Jennifer's competition they were over 750 hopefuls. This
time Jennifer was the winner...and she was even ordered to gain weight
for the
role. With the insurmountable task of taking over a role so indelibly
identified with the original Effie on Broadway the Tony-winning legend
Jennifer
Holiday, the making of Dreamgirls (2006) for Jennifer Hudson could only
have
been described as daunting, surreal and thrilling -- with the word
"daunting"
certainly an understatement. In a make-or-break role of a lifetime,
Hudson no
longer has to play second fiddle to anyone, as she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for this role.