Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, talk show host, and producer. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, television, and theater. Hudson became the youngest woman and second African-American woman to receive all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT).[1] She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.[2] Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.[3]

Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, placing seventh. She made her film debut as Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls (2006), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest African-American to win in a competitive acting category. After signing to Arista Records, Hudson released her self-titled debut studio album in 2008, which was certified Gold in the US and the UK, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Hudson’s subsequent studio albums, I Remember Me (2011) and JHUD (2014), both charted within the top ten of the Billboard 200, with the former also being certified Gold in the US. Meanwhile, her other acting roles include the films Sex and the City (2008), The Secret Life of Bees (2008), Winnie Mandela (2011), Black Nativity (2013), Sing (2016), Cats (2019) and Respect (2021), the television shows Smash (2012), Empire (2015) and Confirmation (2016), and her Broadway debut with the musical The Color Purple. Hudson also contributed as a coach on the UK and the US version of The Voice from 2017 up to 2019, becoming the first female coach to win the former.[4] In 2022, she began hosting a talk show titled, The Jennifer Hudson Show.

Early life

Hudson was born on September 12, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois.[5][6] She is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donerson[7] and Samuel Simpson.[8][9] She was raised as a Baptist[10] in Englewood[11] and attended Dunbar Vocational High School, from which she graduated in 1999.[12] She cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration.[13] She has also credited Mariah Carey as being one of her musical “heroes”.[14] At age 7 she got her start in performing by singing with the church choir and doing community theater with the help of her late maternal grandmother, Julia.[15] She enrolled at Langston University but she left after a semester due to homesickness and unhappiness with the weather, and registered at Kennedy–King College.[16]

In January 2002, Hudson signed her first recording contract with Righteous Records, a Chicago-based independent record label.[17] She was released from her five-year contract with Righteous Records so that she could appear on American Idol in 2004.