10 Actors Who Peaked Way Too Soon

When you win an Oscar for your first film performance, stealing the show from Eddie Murphy and Beyonce in the process, there’s really no way to go but down. Jennifer Hudson’s performance in Dreamgirls was legitimately outstanding, a lived-in role that belied her total inexperience, and the Academy Award was a pleasant surprise, and well deserved.

Hudson has done plenty of decent work since then, but nothing anywhere close to that level, both in terms of her contribution and, for the most part, the quality of the film in general. She aimed for more prestige work in Winnie Mandela, playing the titular freedom fighter, and while she was perfectly decent, the mediocre film sank without a trace.

There have been other highlights, like Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq, alongside outright disasters like Cats (from which Hudson is admittedly one of the few actors to emerge with dignity intact).

The multitalented Hudson has fingers in many pies and has continued a music career alongside her acting. What’s more, the next movie she has lined up is a biopic of the late Aretha Franklin - now that sounds more like it.