Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson.[2] She rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, coming in seventh place. She made her film debut in Dreamgirls (2006), which won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She won a Grammy Award for her eponymous debut album, Jennifer Hudson, which was released in 2008 on Arista Records and was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over 800,000 copies in the US; with sales exceeding 1 million copies worldwide.[citation needed] Additionally, it spawned the hit single “Spotlight”. Her second album, I Remember Me, was released in March 2011, and reached number two on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in its first week of release.[3] The album was certified gold by the RIAA, for shipping over 500,000 copies in the US.[4]

In October 2008, after Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting, Hudson stepped out of the public eye for three months. Hudson resumed her public appearances in 2009 and has since performed at the Super Bowl XLIII, the Grammy Awards, American Idol, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.[5] Hudson has been described as a friend of President Barack Obama, who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills in May 2009.[6] She also performed at the White House at the “Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” event.[7] Her vocal range is mezzo-soprano.[8] Hudson has sold 1,280,000 albums and 2,237,000 tracks in the United States as of February 2012.[9] In 2013, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[10]