New York:

She was a failed reality show contestant who couldn’t get work as a backing singer. But, following her role in Dreamgirls, Jennifer Hudson’s critics have changed their tune.

One wonders what Beyonce Knowles’s reaction was when it was announced Jennifer Hudson had won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress, then followed it with an Oscar nomination, for her role in the musical Dreamgirls.

Hollywood rumours suggest Beyonce, arguably the biggest female star of her generation, was furious that her first foray into serious acting was overshadowed by a losing contestant from Simon Cowell’s American Idol TV show making her movie debut.

Despite the presence of Beyonce, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy (who also won a Golden Globe), and despite the billing on posters, Hudson is the clear star of Dreamgirls: she blows Beyonce off the screen. But Hudson will not be drawn on whether Knowles bears her any ill will. Smiling sweetly as she sits in a Manhattan hotel suite, overlooking Central Park, she says simply: “Beyonce is a goddess. She is a big influence on me.”

Perhaps she’s playing the PR game; perhaps she’s wary of the enormous power Beyonce wields in the entertainment industry. Some industry observers believe she has already been a victim of that power: there’s been controversy over the fact Hudson’s absence from the recent Vanity Fair magazine Dreamgirls cover, on which Beyonce appeared centre stage. Others note darkly that Hudson was put forward for awards as best supporting actress, as opposed to best actress, even though Dreamgirls is essentially her character’s story.

Hudson - a sweet-natured, mid-western, church-going girl who says, “Oh my goodness” instead of, “Oh my God” - doesn’t seem to care very much about the fuss. Today, dressed in deep jade and still sufficiently new to A-list showbiz to enjoy having a personal makeup artist and hairdresser, she clutches my leg, and says, “This is all beyond my wildest dreams. From the moment that I got the call telling me I got the part to the day that I walked on to the set with Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, up until this point, I could never have imagined how huge it would become. I literally pinch myself every day.”