Jennifer Hudson Wins “Winnie” Role

Jennifer Hudson: more than just a pretty voice.

Variety reports that Jennifer Hudson will star in “Winnie,” a biopic of Winnie Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, the activist who led the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Darrell J. Roodt is directing a script written by Andre Pieterse, Roodt and Paul L. Johnson; the Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob biography “Winnie Mandela:A Life,” serves as the script’s main source.

Winnie Mandela was known as the “Mother of the Nation,” for her role in supporting Nelson Mandela’s work. Later she became a controversial figure, for her extremist views and seeming acceptance of violent means. She also was convincted of fraud. Nevertheless, by 2009 she had won enough support to gain a spot on the South African presidential ballot (she lost). Winnie and Nelson Mandela are divorce.

Hudson won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in “Dreamgirls,” and if you saw that movie, you know that wasn’t a token award for her singing; she nailed the role of Effie cold. I haven’t seen her other two film appearances, “Sex and the City” and “The Secret Life of Bees,” but I do believe she is one of those doesn’t-happen-everyday cases of a singer who actually can act, not just one of the many singers who think they can act.

“Winnie” will begin filming at the end of May in South Africa.