Jennifer Hudson is a person.
Jennifer Hudson . She rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol , coming in seventh place . As an actress , she made her film debut portraying Effie White in Dreamgirls , for which she gained worldwide acclaim and won an Academy Award , a Golden Globe Award , a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress . She has also appeared in such films as Sex and the City , The Secret Life of Bees and Black Nativity . Hudson has been described as a friend of former President Barack Obama , who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills during his first term in May 2009 .