Jennifer Hudson is the most recent celebrity to pick up a perfume deal. This time the company signing the checks is Avon.

Former American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson picked up the best supporting actress award for her role in the musical Dreamgirls. Jennifer said, “There is nothing like being recognized and honored by your own.”

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson hides behind her OK! Magazine (with her on the cover) from paparazzi as she arrives at LAX airport on Wednesday afternoon. This black and purple number even looks better than her Oscar outfit!

And I am telling you… Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar win and her performance with Beyonce at the Oscars pushed The Dreamgirls soundtrack up two spots to No. 16! Listen, to the sound from deep within..

Grammy Award winner Beyonce, Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose perform their hits songs from Dreamgirls, which picked up two Oscars last night — Best Achievement in Sound and Best Support Actress for Hudson. Check out the video of Dreamgirls performing at the 2007 Oscars below!

Janet Jackson helps Jennifer Hudson celebrate her Oscar nomination at a party in Jennifer’s honor on Wednesday at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in California. The part was hosted by Jamie Foxx and Giant magazine (Jennifer was the magazine’s February / March issue cover girl).

Jennifer recently made history as the first black female singer to be featured on the cover of Vogue.

In light of the awards season (the Oscars are this weekend), General Motors threw its annual GM TEN event last night — a charity-driven celebrity couture fashion show. It’s where fashion, cars, and Hollywood join forces for one special night.

With 2007 marking the 6th annual, this year’s runway had an all-star lineup including Katherine Heigl, Denise Richards, Jennifer Hudson, Sarah Wayne Callies, Mary J. Blige, Christina Milian, Leah Rimini, Roselyn Sanchez, Emmy Rossum, Shane West, Mario Lopez, David Boreanaz, Tyrese Gibson, Pete Wentz, Mekhi Phifer, Donald Faison, and of course, the Heroes cast — Hayden Panettiere, Milo Ventimiglia, Masi Oka, and Jack Coleman.

Sitting front row: Penelope Cruz (nice Dr. Evil pose), Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric Dane and wife Rebecca Gayheart, and America’s Next Top Model’s Eva Pigford sitting next to Russell Simmons.

The event was held on Tuesday night at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

UPDATE :: I added 40+ pictures from the 2007 GM “Ten” Runway — CLICK HERE!!! Be sure to check them all out!!!!

In light of the awards season (the Oscars are this weekend), General Motors throws its annual GM “Ten” event — a charity-driven celebrity couture fashion show. It’s where fashion, cars, and Hollywood join forces for one special night.

With 2007 marking the 6th annual, this year’s event hosted an all-star lineup including Demi Moore (with daughter Rumer), Penelope Cruz, Dreamgirls‘ Jennifer Hudson, Emmy Rossum, Denise Richards, Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl, Mary J. Blige, Prison Break’s Sarah Wayne Callies, Heroes‘ Hayden Panettiere, The Hills‘ Lauren Conrad, Without a Trace’s Roselyn Sanchez, Christina Milian, Access Hollywood’s Maria Menounos, Bai Ling, Stacy Keibler and Scientology postergirls Leah Rimini and Jenna Elfman,

The event was held on Tuesday night at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

Ladies and germs, may I present to you Miss Jenny Hudson on the cover of Life Magazine with photographs by Peggy Sirota. I absolutely love this one but could have done without this one. Hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right?

Check out some choice quotes from Jennifer’s interview with Life:

• On serving at Burger King: “The only nonentertainment job I took was at Burger King [as a teenager]. My older sister, Julia, was the super-employee. I made a mess of everything: Burgers would go flying out of my hand. I’d drop the cheese. It made me realize I better find a job doing something completely different.”
• On loving The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: “It was while watching an episode of the ’90s Will Smith sitcom that she first heard “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” Dreamgirls’ signature song. “Will was lip-synching to it, and I was like, ‘Who is that singing? I have to sing that song.’ I never would have guessed. . . .”
• On her one true love: “My boyfriend, James Peyton, 27, and I have been together since 1999, so he watched me struggle to get here. There were some dark times when I’d say, ‘I can’t sing anymore. I’m not right for this.’ He’d say, ‘Jennifer, there’s no way you’re not singing. Keep it up, girl, keep it up.’ ”

Read Jennifer Hudson’s full Life interview here.

Check out these great portraits from theNew York Times, their “photographic portfolio of the actors and actresses who defined excellence in the past year.” Celebrities featured include:

Christian Bale, The Prestige

Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

Ken Watanabe, Letters form Iwo Jima

Cate Blanchett, Babel & Notes on a Scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed & Blood Diamond

Brad Pitt, Babel

Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal

Annette Benning, Running with Scissors

Vin Diesel, Find Me Guilty

Eddie Murphy, Norbit

Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth

Maggie Cheung, Clean

Peter O’Toole, Venus

Helen Mirren, The Queen

Abbie Cornish, Somersault

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep

Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine

Penelope Cruz, Volver

You can check out the rest of the New York Times portraits here.

Dreamgirls‘ Oscar nominee Jennifer Hudson takes on the Power cover for the March 2007 issue of Vogue. Big news because Jennifer’s a full-figured black woman and Vogue has featured only two African-Americans on its cover since December 2002 — Halle Berry and model Liya Kebede. (Oprah was on the cover in October 1998.)

Photographs by: Annie Leibovitz. Interview by: editor-at-large André Leon Talley (also Jennifer’s stylist of late). You can watch a video interview with Talley on Hudson here.

My favorite shot so far is of Jennifer, 25, leaning against the grand piano wearing a Burberry London trench, Escada dress, Hat Attack beret, and Roger Vivier heels. It was photographed at Harlem’s famed Apollo theater.

Jennifer Hudson’s March 2007 cover of Vogue hits newsstands Feb. 20.

And to make it interesting, here’s a brief rundown of some notable covers in Vogue’s recent history:

• March 1966: Donyale Luna (first African American model to appear on the cover of Vogue, not sure if this was the US edition)
• March 1980: Sheila Johnson (America’s first Black female billionaire)
• January 1981: Beverly Johnson (first African American model to appear on the cover in the US edition?)
• April 1994: Brandi Q is featured alongside two white models
• May 1996: Naomi Campbell is given the inside flap of a special foldout cover
• July 1997: Kiara Kabukuru (Ugandan supermodel)
• January 1998: Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) shares the cover with her fellow Spice Girls
• October 1998: Oprah
• Novemeber 1999: Iman shares the front cover with three other supermodels in special foldout cover
• December 2002: Halle Barry
• May 2005: Liya Kebede (Ethiopian supermodel)

Thanks, iriswills!