Five stars who sprang from reality Before she was a motion picture star singer/actress Jennifer Hudson was a contestant on Americal Idol. COMPETING on a reality TV show can be the path to fame and fortune, as Summer Bays newest resident Johnny Ruffo discovered. Here are five others who transformed their 15 minutes of reality show fame into a proper career. DEAN GEYER Geyer sprang to fame as the third place getter on Australian Idol in 2006 (aka the year Damian Leith won). After his album, Rush, bombed, the committed Christian landed a gig on Neighbours in 2008. Stretching his acting wings, he played a musician and sang a lot. His first major international role was on the short-lived Australian-made sci-fi show Terra Nova and he currently stars in Glee as Brody Weston. JESSICA MAUBOY The delightful Ms Mauboy was also pipped at the post by Damian Leith on Australian Idol in 2006, but has gone on to be one of the reality show's most successful alumni. Two of her albums went Gold and a third went Double Platinum and Mauboy proved herself to be a top notch actor in the hit movies Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires. EMMA STONE Long before Superbad and Zombieland, Emma Stone's first taste of fame was on reality TV show In Search of a New Partridge Family - where the "prize" for winning a TV show was a role on a TV show (which never made it past the pilot). Stone won the Susan Dey role in The New Partridge Family. "My Mom saw a commercial on TV for it and said, "You look like Susan Dey a little, and just dyed your hair brown ... Why don't you give this a shot? I have a weird feeling. I did it and ended up winning. I don't regret it for a minute. JENNIFER HUDSON There aren't too many former reality show competitors with Oscars, but Jennifer Hudson picked up Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls just two years after she made it through to the finals of the third season of American Idol. Hudson also won a Grammy Award for her debut album which sold more than a million copies. Her film career has never again reached such lofty heights (exhibit A: she was in The Three Stooges) but she recently had a recurring role on TV show Smash. BLAIR MCDONOUGH Big Brother contestants tend to disappear quickly back into obscurity, but Blair McDonough, runner-up in season one of Big Brother Australia, has had a long and successful career. He was cast as Stuart Parker in Neighbours just months after the reality show ended - and even dated Delta Goodrem for a bit - and has since appeared in Heartbeat, Sea Patrol and Dancing with the Stars. McDonough also had a starring role as Matt O'Connor in Winners and Losers, until his character was killed in a gas explosion in the season two finale.