By Andrew Gans
and Zachary Pincus-Roth
02 Jan 2007

Jennifer Hudson, who has received raves for her performance as Effie White in the new movie musical "Dreamgirls," received an Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Award for Breakout Performance.

The first annual Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards were distributed Dec. 27, 2006. Other honorees included stage and screen star Helen Mirren (Best Actress for "The Queen"), Forest Whitaker (Best Actor for "The Last King of Scotland"), Jackie Earle Haley (Best Supporting Actor for "Little Children") and Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Actress for "Notes on a Scandal"). "United 93" was named Best Film, and Martin Scorsese received the Best Director award for "The Departed."

Hudson, the former "American Idol" finalist who made her solo concert debut Dec. 30, has also been honored as Best Supporting Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle, Best Breakthrough Performance from the National Board of Review, runner up for the Los Angeles Critics Association's Supporting Actress prize. She also won the Pauline Kael Breakout Award from the Florida Film Critics and she received a nomination for a Golden Globe.

Directed by Bill Condon, "Dreamgirls" also stars Beyoncé Knowles as Deena Jones, Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson, Jamie Foxx as Curtis Taylor Jr., Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder Early" and Danny Glover as Marty. Condon also wrote the film's screenplay based on the late Tom Eyen's book. The film employs most of the original score by Eyen and Henry Krieger as well as four new tunes.