As one of Time‘s 100 most influential people in the world in 2020, Jennifer Hudson continues to shine bright as one of the industry’s biggest stars. At last night’s 2022 Tony Awards, the Empire actress and American Idol star won a Tony for Best Musical for the play A Strange Loop, which she produced. The musical, which centers around the mental health of a gay black man, beat out Girl From the North Country, MJ The Musical, Mr. Saturday Night, Paradise Square and SIX: The Musical for the award.
Hudson won an Oscar in 2007 for her role in the film Dreamgirls, a Grammy for her contributions to the Broadway cast album of The Color Purple in 2017, another Grammy in 2009 for her self-titled debut album, and a Daytime Emmy in 2020 as a producer for the short Baby Yaga. Recently, Jennifer Hudson starred in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect.
Jenniffer Hudson had joked with People Magazine in a 2020 interview about receiving an EGOT. Funnily enough, she attributes her Grammys and Oscar to her dogs, of all people.
“I should get two more dogs… I got a dog and named it Oscar, and then I won my Oscar,” said Hudson. “And then I got a dog and named it Grammy, and then I won my Grammy… So I think I should get some dogs and name them Emmy and Tony — and it’ll give me good luck, and I’ll win. [They’re] like my good luck charms.”
Congrats to Hudson!
Jennifer Hudson and Michael R. Jackson, who wrote “A Strange Loop,” at the 2022 Tony Awards – Cindy Ord/Getty Images