Rolling Stone's 20th Annual Hot List

Jennifer Hudson has been named Hot Rising Star in the 20th Annual Hot list for Rolling Stone. It reads: "I'd rather be a Dreamgirl than an American Idol any day." says Jennifer Hudson. The former Idol contestant beat the odds not just by winning a lead part in the hotly anticipated film adaptation of DREAMGIRLS, the hit Broadway musical, but also by turning in one of the movie's top performances- no small feat in an A-list cast that inlcludes Beyonce, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy. Ironically, when it came to the crucial role of Effie, the Dreamgirl gets elbowed out of the spotlight, the two final contenders were both veterans of the 2004 edition of American Idol. Fantasia Barrino won the TV show, but Jennifer Hudson got the movie. More intimidating than Simon Cowell was the memory of Jennifer Holliday, who originated the role of Effie on Broadway in 1981 and sang the show's signature number, "And I am Telling You I'm Not Going." "Oh My God, Jennifer Holliday tore that song to pieces," says Hudson. "I had to seperate from that and connect with the song's emotion." If singing hadn't worked out, Hudson had two backup plans: Plan B was to become a tattoo artist. "Plan C was to be a mortician," she says, sounding oddly gleeful. "My uncle owns Hudson Funeral Home." Hudson, whose bold performance is being touted as the leading contender for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (just as Murphy's startling star turn is generating talk of Best Actor nod), is now shuttling between L.A. and her hometown of Chicago, and going to the gym twice a day. "People say I lost forty pounds, and I'm walking around looking like a supermodel," she declaims. "And I'm like, 'Hold on, I lost only twenty pounds. I don't want to be no smaller than a size ten- I still got jelly.' " Source: October 19th Issue of Rolling Stone, Fergie on the cover.