‘It’s Time for My Voice’: Jennifer Hudson on Reviving ‘Dreamgirls,’ Booking Tom Cruise for Her Talk Show and Writing Original Music Again — SkimNews
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- Jennifer Hudson is producing a Broadway revival of 'Dreamgirls' and sitting in on auditions to find the next Effie, while also returning to 'American Idol' as a guest judge in April where a contestant's rendition of 'The Circle of Life' moved her to tears
- Hudson is writing original material for an untitled new album inspired by partner Common and her 17-year-old son David, telling the magazine she 'only write[s] when I have something I really want to say, and it's my time for my voice'
- Hudson booked Tom Cruise for 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' after running into him following her July national anthem performance at the World Cup Final in New York; Cruise agreed so fast 'it made my head spin' and revealed he already watches the program
- 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' has earned 18 Daytime Emmy nominations since launching in 2022, and Hudson received her first solo nomination for outstanding daytime talk series host this year, after taping more than 100 episodes
- Hudson launched the Jennifer Hudson Foundation last year to expand her two-decade Chicago youth philanthropy nationwide, funding a children's choir for choral competitions and mirroring her talk show's 'Everyday Heroes' segment
Why it matters: Hudson is moving from interpreter of others' anthems to creator and producer, a shift she marks with a Broadway revival she controls and her first album of self-written material since her 2008 debut — a repositioning that puts her on both sides of the entertainment pipeline at once, with a syndicated platform and an EGOT résumé behind it.
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