96 Facts About Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.

Jennifer Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of the reality series American Idol, wherein she placed seventh.

Jennifer Hudson signed with Interscope to release her fourth and first Christmas album, The Gift of Love, her first solo project in a decade.

Jennifer Hudson made her film debut as Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and became the youngest African-American recipient of the award.

Jennifer Hudson has appeared in shows such as Smash, Empire and Confirmation.

Jennifer Hudson has served as a coach on both the UK and the US versions of the reality series The Voice from 2017 to 2019, and became the first female coach to lead a winning team on the former.

Jennifer Hudson is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donerson and Samuel Simpson, a Greyhound Lines bus driver.

She, her older sister Julia, a school bus driver, and her brother Jason Jennifer Hudson, were raised primarily by their mother.

Jennifer Hudson's father was absent from her childhood until, with the blessing of her mother, she went looking for him at age 14.

When Jennifer Hudson found her father, she learned that he had 26 other children.

Jennifer Hudson has stated she has still not met all of her half-siblings.

Jennifer Hudson was raised as a Baptist in Englewood and attended Dunbar Vocational High School, from which she graduated in 1999.

Jennifer Hudson cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration.

Jennifer Hudson has credited Mariah Carey as being one of her musical "heroes".

In January 2002, Jennifer Hudson signed her first recording contract with Righteous Records, a Chicago-based independent record label.

Jennifer Hudson was released from her contract with Righteous Records so that she could appear on American Idol in 2004.

Jennifer Hudson auditioned for the third season of American Idol in Atlanta.

In May 2010, the Los Angeles Times claimed Jennifer Hudson to be the third greatest Idol contestant in the history of the show, placing behind season one winner Kelly Clarkson and season four winner Carrie Underwood respectively.

In one of her first appearances on a record, Jennifer Hudson is featured in a duet, "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be", on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.

In September 2006, Jennifer Hudson performed the song, "Over It", live on Fox Chicago Morning News.

In November 2006, Jennifer Hudson signed a record deal with Arista Records.

Jennifer Hudson recorded a song she co-wrote with Bill Grainer and Earl Powell called "Stand Up", which was available for preview on her fan website.

The power-ballad would later become available on the deluxe edition of Jennifer Hudson's self-titled album as a bonus track.

In November 2005, Jennifer Hudson was cast in the role of Effie White for the film adaptation of the musical Dreamgirls, which starred Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy.

Jennifer Hudson won the role over hundreds of professional singers and actresses, including Fantasia Barrino.

Jennifer Hudson won the Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

On February 11,2007, the 60th British Academy Film Awards were held in London, but Jennifer Hudson was not there to accept her BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

The BAFTA Award went missing and Jennifer Hudson did not receive her award until April 22,2011, when it was presented to her on the Graham Norton Show.

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

In October 2008, Jennifer Hudson made her third film appearance in The Secret Life of Bees as Rosaleen, the mother figure of Lily Owens.

Jennifer Hudson was nominated for her performance in the film, but lost to Queen Latifah.

In 2009, Jennifer Hudson starred as Kathy Archenault in Fragments, a film based on the novel by Roy Freirich, with Dakota Fanning and Forest Whitaker.

In 2010, Hudson started filming the biopic film Winnie Mandela based on the South African politician Winnie Mandela starring alongside Terrence Howard and directed by Darrell J Roodt.

In January 2008, Jennifer Hudson returned to the studio to record new songs for her debut studio album.

Jennifer Hudson's label was reportedly unhappy with the direction they were sending Hudson musically and decided it would be best to scrap the older songs and instead focus on new ones.

Jennifer Hudson worked with Ryan Tedder and Timbaland on a number of songs.

Jennifer Hudson performed the national anthem at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Jennifer Hudson won the last of these and performed at the awards ceremony.

In February 2009, Jennifer Hudson made her first public appearance since the murders when she sang the Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XLIII.

Jennifer Hudson toured the United States with Robin Thicke in 2009.

Jennifer Hudson sang "Will You Be There" at the Michael Jackson memorial service in July 2009.

Jennifer Hudson is featured on Ne-Yo's second album, Because of You, on the track, "Leaving Tonight".

Hudson performed a Christmas special in December 2009 called Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Jennifer Hudson visited family members, friends and other childhood influences during the broadcast.

On January 22,2010, Jennifer Hudson appeared on the telethon "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief", performing the Beatles' "Let it Be".

Also, that year, Jennifer Hudson recorded the song "One Shining Moment" for the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Jennifer Hudson said "She's gone through a lot over the last year, so she has a lot to talk about", he continues.

On January 24,2011, Jennifer Hudson premiered the album's lead single "Where You At".

Jennifer Hudson played a nun in the Farrelly brothers film The Three Stooges.

The day after the death of Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to her by singing Houston's "I Will Always Love You" during the 54th Grammy Awards held on February 12,2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Jennifer Hudson guest-starred for a multi-episode arc on the second season of Smash.

Jennifer Hudson sang "America the Beautiful" with the Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus at Super Bowl XLVII.

Jennifer Hudson sang at the 85th Academy Awards in a tribute to musical films.

Jennifer Hudson performed "Same Love" with Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, and Mary Lambert at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.

On September 21,2013, a new single from Jennifer Hudson's forthcoming third studio album was released via her website.

On November 13,2013, Jennifer Hudson was awarded with the 2,512th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jennifer Hudson described the album as more "upbeat" than her previous material.

Jennifer Hudson worked with Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, RedOne, Iggy Azalea and R Kelly among others.

At the 87th Academy Awards, Jennifer Hudson performed her song "I Can't Let Go" by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman as a tribute to the individuals Hollywood lost in the previous year.

On Radio Disney, Iggy revealed that the collaboration happened after their previous work, she liked her voice and wanted Jennifer Hudson to sing the hook for it.

Later in 2015, Jennifer Hudson guest-starred as Michelle White, a minor semi-recurring character in the first season of Empire.

Jennifer Hudson helped welcome Pope Francis on his first visit to the United States by singing her rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

In fall 2015, Jennifer Hudson made her Broadway debut as Shug Avery in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, alongside Cynthia Erivo and Danielle Brooks.

Jennifer Hudson radiates a lush, supple stage presence that is echoed by her velvet voice.

In June 2016, Jennifer Hudson performed Prince's "Purple Rain", on the BET Awards, which she had previously sung onstage with the cast of The Color Purple, the day Prince died.

Jennifer Hudson has become that, as LA and I excitingly reunite to capture Jennifer at her all-time best.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Hudson picked up a few minor film roles, including in Spike Lee's musical Chi-Raq, and HBO's Confirmation, alongside Kerry Washington.

Jennifer Hudson lent her voice to the younger version of the character Nana Noodleman in the Illumination Entertainment film, Sing, which was released December 21,2016.

Jennifer Hudson starred as singer Courtney Clarke in the film, Sandy Wexler, which premiered in April 2017.

In early 2017, Jennifer Hudson debuted in The Voice franchise as a coach on the sixth season of The Voice UK.

Jennifer Hudson won the season with her act Mo Adeniran and became the first female coach to win the show.

Jennifer Hudson had joined the American version of The Voice as a coach for its thirteenth season.

Jennifer Hudson returned for her second series as a coach to The Voice UK; her second series premiered on January 6,2018, and concluded on April 7, where Jennifer Hudson's finalist Belle Voci finished third.

On January 27,2018, Clive Davis disclosed that Jennifer Hudson had been handpicked by Aretha Franklin to portray her in an eventual biopic with a prospective release date in 2021.

Jennifer Hudson performed with the DC Choir at the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, DC, on March 24,2018.

Jennifer Hudson returned as a coach for the fifteenth season of the American version of The Voice after taking a one-season hiatus.

Jennifer Hudson's final act, Kennedy Holmes, finished in fourth place overall.

In 2018, Jennifer Hudson was cast as the Cats character Grizabella in the film adaptation, which was released in 2019.

On July 20,2021, Jennifer Hudson was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey about her role as Aretha Franklin in the film, Respect.

Jennifer Hudson's performance earned her the Chairman's Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival as well as a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.

The film was accompanied by a soundtrack sung entirely by Jennifer Hudson featuring covers of several of Franklin's songs with one original song for Jennifer Hudson, "Here I Am ", being released as the soundtracks lead single in June 2021.

In September 2021, Jennifer Hudson won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Media for a Daytime Program for being an executive producer for Baba Yaga, a 27-minute interactive fairytale story made for Oculus Quest.

In February 2022, Jennifer Hudson was one of the night's major winners at the 2022 NAACP Image Awards.

Jennifer Hudson won the Entertainer of the Year and Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the film Respect.

In May 2022, Jennifer Hudson received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Musical for serving as a producer for the Broadway musical, A Strange Loop.

On June 12,2022, Jennifer Hudson became one of seventeen people to have won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony at the 75th Tony Awards.

Jennifer Hudson appeared in the 2022 film Tell It Like a Woman and starred in the 2024 science fiction thriller Breathe.

Hudson's syndicated talk show, The Jennifer Hudson Show, launched on September 12,2022.

On October 18,2024, Jennifer Hudson released her first Christmas album, The Gift of Love and embraced The Gift of Love: An Intimate Live Experience, a tour in the United States.

Jennifer Hudson began dating James Payton in 1999, when she was 18.

Jennifer Hudson later met David Otunga, a professional wrestler in the WWE and a Harvard Law graduate, and the couple became engaged in September 2008.

In November 2017, Jennifer Hudson's representative announced that Jennifer Hudson and Otunga had separated after over 10 years together.

Jennifer Hudson's family created The Jennifer Hudson-King Foundation for Families of Slain Victims, in honor of the three victims.

Jennifer Hudson has been described as a friend of former President Barack Obama, who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills during his first term in May 2009.

Jennifer Hudson performed at the White House at the "Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" event.

In 2022, while working together on their film Breathe, Jennifer Hudson began dating rapper and fellow Chicago native, Common.