Jennifer Hudson has done film and music, and has significantly baked well on both sides. She has on record an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and two Grammy Awards.
Her recent work ‘Respect’, a moving biopic paying tribute to the one and only Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin has garnered explosive positive reviews making her Hollywood credentials bright and polished.
Regardless of the screen familiarity, ‘Respect’ brings to the audience (another musical role for Hudson), the excitement and addiction to binge watch it is camped on Hudson’s star play.
The Hollywood Reporter describes her performance as, ”This is easily the star’s most persuasively committed screen performance since ‘Dreamgirls’, alive not just in the musical interludes but also in the frequently combative interactions with the people closest to Aretha”.
Variety opines in their review, “Aretha Franklin was as important a female vocalist as America ever produced, and while “Respect” affords a glimpse of the vulnerable, uncertain woman she once was, audiences fully expect her to appear iconic. Hudson has the pipes as well as the presence, and that, plus the film’s two-and-a-half-hour running time, make the film feel more definitive than it is”.
Aged 39 and still evolving year after year, Hudson’s portfolio doesn’t look the dwindling part but instead a revered slate heaped with an outstanding legacy.
In honour of the film’s theatrical release today, we are taking a look at some of Hudson’s best screen works till date.
FILM
‘Dreamgirls’
SYNOPSIS: After Curtis recognises the singing talent of three women at a show, he helps them attain stardom. One of the artists gets attracted to him but is heartbroken when he removes her from the band.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce, Anika Noni Rose, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy
DIRECTOR: Bill Condon
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Winnie Mandela’
SYNOPSIS: The life of Winnie Mandela, from her childhood through her marriage and her husband’s incarceration.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Terrence Howard
DIRECTOR: Darrell Roodt
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Monster’
SYNOPSIS: Steve Harmon is a 17-year-old honor student whose world comes crashing down when he’s charged with felony murder. He soon faces a complex legal battle that could leave him spending the rest of his life in prison.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Kelvin Harrison Jr, John David Washington, ASAP Rocky
DIRECTOR: Anthony Mandler
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Netflix
‘The Secret Life of Bees’
SYNOPSIS: Lily, a lonely teenager, flees from her home and reaches a small town in South Carolina. Once there, she finds herself in the company of the Boatwright sisters who introduce her to a new world.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning
DIRECTOR: Gina Prince-Bythewood
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete’
SYNOPSIS: The sons (Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon) of two drug-addled hookers must fend for themselves after one’s mother goes missing and the other (Jennifer Hudson) is arrested.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Anthony Mackie, Skylan Brooks
DIRECTOR: George Tillman Jr.
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Black Nativity’
SYNOPSIS: Langston, a street-smart teenager, is sent to live with his estranged relatives in New York City to celebrate Christmas. As he spends his days there, he embarks on an inspirational life journey.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett
DIRECTOR: Kasi Lemmons
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon prime Video
‘Call Me Crazy: A Five Film’
SYNOPSIS: A psychotherapist (Octavia Spencer) helps a law student (Brittany Snow) cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Brittany Snow, Sarah Hyland
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Hairspray Live!’
SYNOPSIS: In 1960s Baltimore, a teenage dance-loving girl dreams of getting a spot on a popular television show.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, Kristin Chenoweth
DIRECTOR: Kenny Leon
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Sing’
SYNOPSIS: Dapper Koala Buster Moon presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. An eternal optimist, and a bit of a scoundrel, he loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he takes one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition. Five contestants emerge: a mouse, a timid elephant, a pig, a gorilla and a punk-rock porcupine.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon.
DIRECTOR: Garth Jennings
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime Video
‘Respect’
SYNOPSIS: Aretha Franklin sings in her father’s church choir as a child and grows up to become an international musical superstar and legend.
CAST: Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Marlon Wayans
DIRECTOR: Liesl Tommy
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: All Theatres
