African-American Spotlight: Jennifer Hudson

There’s so much to learn about American singer and actress Jennifer Kate Hudson, who began singing at age seven in her Chicago church choir and rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, placing seventh. Despite failing to win American Idol, she has gone on to win a Grammy for her very first album and an Oscar for her very first film. Asides these wins, she has gone on to receive a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, the Sammy Davis Jr. Award {for entertainer of the year} and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award.

In 2013, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and since 2017, Hudson has contributed as a coach on the UK and the US version of The Voice, becoming the first female coach to win the former.

After six months of auditions and two screens test, Jennifer beat nearly 800 other women to earn her place as the film supporting lady Effie White in the Dream girls where she stole the spotlight. This has won her roughly 28 awards in total for playing Effie White and has in addition, appeared on the March 2007 cover of Vogue as only the third African-American celebrity and the first African-American singer to grace the cover of Vogue Magazine.

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In 2008, Jennifer was the subject of significant media attention when her mother, brother, and nephew were killed in a shooting. She tearfully paid tribute to them in February 2009 when she accepted the Grammy Award for best rhythm and blues album. Her family then created The Hudson-King Foundation for Families of Slain Victims, in honor of the three victims. Hudson and her sister created the Julian D. King Gift Foundation in honor of her nephew. It provides Christmas presents and school supplies to families in need in the Chicago area.

Hudson was a spokeswoman for the weight-loss guidance service Weight Watchers from 2010 to 2014. She claimed to have shed some 80 pounds by using the company’s plan.

In 2007, the mayor of her hometown in Chicago, Richard M. Daley, declared March 6 as ‘Jennifer Hudson Day’ and on November 13, 2013, Hudson was awarded with the 2,512th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Culled from www.capitalxtra.com

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