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From Idol zero to Oscars hero
26/02/2007 12:22 - (SA)
Hollywood - In the space of two years, Jennifer Hudson has gone from reality television zero to Oscar-winning hero.
The 25-year-old scooped the best supporting actress Oscar on Sunday for her portrayal of singer Effie Melody White in the musical Dreamgirls, crowning a fairytale journey for the reality television reject.
An emotional Hudson thanked God, her family, cast and crew for her victory, saying, "I thank you all for helping me keep the faith, even when I didn't believe."
She also had a special word for her late grandmother: "She was my biggest inspiration for everything, because she was a singer, and she had the passion for it, but she never had the chance. And that was the thing that pushed me forward to continue."
Hudson first came to prominence as a contestant on the smash-hit US TV show American Idol, which sees ambitious wannabes plucked from obscurity and presented with the chance to become a pop star.
But while Hudson impressed the show's notoriously difficult-to-please judges with the range of her singing, she was eliminated in the finals, which were eventually won by Fantasia Barrino.
Nevertheless, the show gave her a profile she was able to exploit for the purposes of securing live concert performances across the United States during the next two years.
Then, with the memory of her 15 minutes of fame beginning to fade, she auditioned for the part of Effie in Dreamgirls.
Against the odds, she beat out competition from 750 other hopefuls, including her American Idol nemesis Barrino.
Director Bill Condon was convinced of Hudson's talent, even though she lacked acting experience and he had to order her to unleash her inner diva on set.
"Bill told me, 'Look, you're too professional, you're too nice.' Because that's me, you know? I'm a polite, well-brought-up girl," Hudson said.
"So he said, 'Stop apologising, show up late, barge in, get angry, throw something, find that emotion, connect with anger and give me some outrage.'
Stealing the show
"He'd have me walk into the rehearsal and be rude to people. We had to get to this point when Effie had this presence, where nothing started till she walked in the room. Once we'd got there, it became fun."
The Oscar-winning results of Condon's exhortations speak for themselves.
Hudson ends up stealing the show with her singing, and her barnstorming rendition of the Jennifer Holliday classic And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going has reportedly had US cinema audiences giving standing ovations in theatres.
Hudson's performance earned her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards prior to her Oscar triumph.
She bested Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi of Babel, Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) to take home the coveted Oscars statuette on Sunday.
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South Africa
