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Jennifer Hudson's dream comes true
2007-02-26
Fantasia Barrino won "American Idol" the year Jennifer Hudson was a top contestant, but now Hudson has an even better title: Academy Award winner. Hudson won the Oscar for best supporting actress in the musical "Dreamgirls," where she gave a showstopping performance as Effie White, the powerhouse lead singer of a `60s R&B girl group who's pushed aside in favor of someone thinner and more glamorous (Beyonce Knowles). Her rendition of the defiant anthem "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," the show's signature song, frequently brought cheering audiences to their feet at movie theaters across the country. "Look what God can do. I didn't think I was gonna win," Hudson said through sobs. "If my grandmother was here to see me now. She was my biggest inspiration for everything because she was a singer and she had the passion for it but she never had a chance." Having won every other prize imaginable throughout this busy awards season, the statuesque 25-year-old was a strong favorite coming into Sunday night's ceremony. She'd already received the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Critics Choice Award and top honors from New York film critics. Not bad for someone who'd been struggling to put together a singing career, despite the attention and acclaim she received in 2004 on the third season of "Idol." She'd never acted in a movie before being chosen from about 800 hopefuls to play the role the formidable Jennifer Holliday made famous on Broadway in the early `80s, and more than held her own with veteran co-stars Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy. Hudson bested an eclectic array of competition in her category: Mexican actress Adriana Barraza and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi of the international ensemble "Babel"; Cate Blanchett as an adulterous teacher in "Notes on a Scandal"; and adorable 10-year-old Abigail Breslin, the aspiring pageant queen of "Little Miss Sunshine."
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