Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and philanthropist. 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 Dreamgirls (2006), for which she received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.<br />Hudson was born on September 12, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois.[6][7] She is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donerson (November 7, 1950 – October 24, 2008)[8] and Samuel Simpson[9] (died 1999).[10] She was raised as a Baptist[11] in Englewood[12] and attended Dunbar Vocational High School, from which she graduated in 1999.[13] She cites Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle as her overall biggest influences and inspiration.[14] She has also credited Mariah Carey as being one of her musical "heroes." [15] 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.[16] 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.[
