Jennifer Hudson rose to fame in 2017.
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 also became the principal singer of The Color Purple musical album , which earned her the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program ( shared with the cast of The Color Purple ) .