Jennifer Hudson (Motormouth Maybelle)
Jennifer Hudson will star as Motormouth Maybelle. A Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Academy Award-winning actress and best-selling author, Hudson made her Broadway debut in 2015 as Shug Avery in John Doyle's re-imagination of "The Color Purple". The show earned rave reviews and multiple award nominations, including a Drama League Award nomination for Hudson in the Distinguished Performance category. In 2014, Hudson released her third critically acclaimed album, "JHUD," which opened in the Billboard Top 10.
Hudson was recently seen in HBO's film "Confirmation" and in 2015 appeared in Spike Lee's "Chi-Raq," for which she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Two years earlier, Hudson starred alongside Terrence Howard in Darrell Roodt's "Winnie Mandela," which garnered her an NAACP Image Award nomination for Best Actress.Hudson won an Academy Award in 2007 for her role as Effie White in the smash hit "Dreamgirls," an adaptation of the Broadway musical. Her breakout film performance also earned her a Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA and NAACP Image Award. Hudson added author to her list of accomplishments in 2012 with the release her New York Times best-selling memoir, "I Got This: How I Changed My Ways, Found Myself and Lost Everything That Weighed Me Down."