Dreamgirls is the 2006 musical film that earned Jennifer Hudson an Oscar for playing Effie White. Effie is a powerful singer whose place in the Dreams is threatened when manager Curtis Taylor Jr. pushes the group toward a more commercially polished sound and replaces her as lead singer.
Directed by Bill Condon, Dreamgirls is adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name. Its fictional story draws inspiration from the history of Motown and groups such as the Supremes, though the characters and plot are not a literal biography. Beyoncé Knowles, Anika Noni Rose, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Danny Glover joined Hudson in the ensemble cast.
Hudson’s performance was her film debut after she became known through American Idol. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 79th Academy Awards, making her one of the film’s defining success stories. The movie’s signature songs include “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” “Listen,” and “One Night Only.”