Jennifer Kate Hudson was born September 12, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois. She is the third and youngest child of Darnell Donerson and Samuel Simpson, a Greyhound Lines bus driver. She, along with her older sister Julia, a school bus driver, and brother Jason Hudson, were raised primarily by her mother, as her father was absent from her childhood until, with the blessing of her mother, she went looking for him at age 14. When Hudson found her father, she learned that he had 26 other children. She has stated she has still not met all of her half-sibling. Jennifer is also known by her nickname J.Hud. She is an American singer and actress. Having received numerous accolades for her work in music, film, television, and theater, Hudson became the youngest woman and third African-American recipient of all four major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT) in 2022. She was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013 and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020. She starred in the 2021 movie RESPECT as Aretha Franklin