Once upon a dreamgirl: being voted off American Idol may have been her ticket to Oscar gold. Jennifer Hudson has arrived. And you and you and you, you're going to love her.

"I met Whitney last night," Jennifer Hudson tells me, wide-eyed. "I was just sitting there and she came up and she waved at me and said, 'You're the one! You! Are! The One!' And I was just stunned. I even forgot to get up."

What Hudson is leaving out of this story, one she's telling me over breakfast at the Beverly Hilton hotel, is why Whitney Houston approached the 25-year-old star of the upcoming film Dreamgirls. The night before, Hudson had appeared at the Carousel of Hope, an annual Beverly Hills benefit for children with diabetes, spearheaded by socialite Barbara Davis. Hudson performed the song "I Am Changing" from the movie and by all accounts blew the roof off the place, causing the assembled famous--Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Teri Hatcher, Sharon Stone, Jay Leno, Halle Berry--to go a little nuts. Houston reportedly leaped from her seat, screaming Hudson's praises. This is the kind of thing you expect to hear about a singer who's just won American Idol and is still in the first blush of that show's mania, not about a former Idol contestant who came in seventh three seasons back. Anyway, the "I was just sitting there" thing doesn't come off as fake. It's what I will come to understand in our early-morning interview over bacon and eggs, as Hudson's trial-by-the-fires-of-reality-television confidence and quietly defiant determination, tempered by a truly real good-girl decency and still-kind-of-shell-shocked disbelief at what's happening to her and how really awesome everything is right now. It doesn't hurt that she's also squeezably adorable. Whitney might have just wanted a hug.

What's happening to Jennifer Hudson is Dreamgirls, a $70 million stage-to-screen glamorama, adapted from the late Michael Bennett's Tony-winning 1981 musical, directed by Oscar-winning gay writer-director Bill Condon (Chicago, Kinsey, Gods and Monsters), and starring African-American Hollywood's A-plus list: Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Beyonce Knowles. It's a fictionalized take on Diana Ross and the Supremes' rise to stardom--compromises, bitterness, and sky-high wigs intact. Hudson plays Effie, the lead singer who gets left behind when mainstream success comes calling. And for her first leap into the Hollywood movie pool, she couldn't have picked a deeper one for diving practice: a beloved musical with a big budget and bigger box-office and Academy Award expectations riding on its Christmas release date, while acting and singing opposite some of the most potentially intimidating costars that pop music and film has to offer. One such star, Jamie Foxx, describes her as "an incredible artist," who is "bold, honest and fearless." But fearless enough to step into the now-legendary shoes of Jennifer Holliday, the woman who created the role of Effie on Broadway when Hudson was 3 months old and delivered what is, 25 years later, a still spine-shocking rendition of the show's biggest song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"? No pressure.

It could be first-timer's naivete about everything that's riding on this mile-high wave, but Hudson doesn't seem all that freaked out about it. She is in fact just plain old excited. "I've never wanted anything more," she says. "To work with some of my favorite artists ... and here I am standing in the middle of them. It's like I'm the true dreamgirl here. I mean, who do you know who gets to live their dreams to a tee? Beyond my wildest. I'm like, Hu-u-uh?" On this last syllable a goofy expression of disbelief spreads across her face.

It was at an American Idol party for the 12 finalists of season 3 when a fan suggested that Hudson would make a great Effie. She was a wild-card pick who quickly became one third of an unofficial trio of "divas," including La Toya London and winner Fantasia Barrino. "Someone told me about the movie at this party," she explains, "And I said, 'Well, if you see anyone involved with it, you tell 'em I'm here and I'm ready."

And when the bottom fell out of her Idol hopes--she was voted off mid-season--she was even more ready to tackle that audition. What she got was a crash course in tenacity and Hollywood's slow, sometimes frustrating process of placing actors in films.

"They called me for the audition," she begins. "I sang "Easy to Be Hard" from Hair. They had given me specific instructions not to sing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." They wanted to see my ability to draw people in and tell a story ... and I sang it as though that song were "And I Am Telling You."

"Then they said, 'We think we're going to go in a different direction.' It was something about making Effie thin. But I waited it out from May until September, through the open call, even though they said, 'If you haven't heard anything by July, then you don't have it.'"

I interrupt her: "So by September you were like, OK, forget it. Next thing. Yes?"

"Uh-uh," she laughs. "I am a woman of faith, a firm believer in what is meant to be is meant to be, so if that part was going to be mine, it was going to be mine. And I knew that part was meant for me. I knew it was going to come back. Then they called in September and said I was completely out of it and I wasn't being considered anymore. And I said to everyone, 'No, it's still my part. I'm just waiting for them to realize it.' They thought I was crazy. I believed so much that even if they had gone and cast it with someone else, that they would have eventually come back and given it to me."

What followed was a game of We Love You/We Love You Not that had Hudson flying to New York twice and Los Angeles on a moment's notice for more screen tests and more ambivalence on casting's part. "They called me again after all of it and said I was again no longer being considered. And I thought, This is God testing me or the devil trying to set me up. But it's still mine. They don't have to believe. I do. Four days later they called back. And they had me fly out to Los Angeles again. It was 3 o'clock P.M. when they called and I was on the plane at 7 o'clock P.M. They faxed over more music with the instructions to know it when I got there. And by the time I stepped off that plane, honey, I knew all that music inside and out. I was on the plane, like, 'Y'all gonna have to excuse me, but I gotta be Effie here.'"

"By this point Beyonce and Anika [Noni Rose] were already rehearsing, but [after the audition] they still sent me home. I didn't unpack a thing. Finally, they called me and told me to call Bill. And I knew this was the last shot. Then Bill got on the line and said, 'Congratulations, you are Effie White.' I celebrated for about 10 minutes and then I thought, I have a whole lotta work to do."

Hudson cops to being intimidated on the first day of table-reads. "I thought, I know they thinkin', Why they got this little girl here? But everyone, really everyone, was so helpful and welcoming and kind." She also admits to a lack of dancing skills: "Effie dances. Jennifer ain't a dancer. Beyonce was extremely helpful and patient with that, because that girl can pick up a dance step. You show her once and it's done."

Her novice status on set made her especially close to director Condon, whom she calls "my anchor." "I love my Bill. I love that man. [Asking questions about him] is the wrong thing to do if you want to get out of here soon, because I'll talk about him forever. He's an angel. I couldn't have asked for a better director."

And later on the phone, Hudson's angel echoes her sentiments. "She and I had serious marriage discussions," says Condon, laughing. "I fell in love with her. It's one thing to try to step into Jennifer Holliday's shoes, to take on this kind of epic role, but to have done it without ever having been on a movie set before and to go toe-to-toe with Jamie Foxx and everyone else, it takes a rock-solid confidence. I know it's overused to describe actors as brave, but I thought that her job took actual physical courage."

Mostly, Hudson had to muster the courage to be as temperamental around her costars as the character of Effie demanded. "Every day was an Effie day. Bill had me do exercises. He said I was too nice. He'd tell me, 'You be late tomorrow. Don't you come in here on time. I want you to come in here with attitude and be, 'Excuse me, I'm Effie and I don't like you.' And Beyonce and Anika would see me and they'd be, 'Oh-oh--here come Effie.' I'd have to get jazzy with 'em and give 'era attitude. Effie has an ego. She's in her own little world. And if you don't live in it, then that's your problem."

Hudson's own little world consists of a Chicago base of family ("They're the slap of reality") and a gang of gay male friends. "About a hundred of 'em, I think," she says, laughing. "Girls don't like me. People say, 'Oh, here comes Jennifer and a bunch of dudes.' And gay guys always recognize me when I'm out. I love that. It's happens so much--even if I have a hat and sunglasses on--that when I see a group of gay guys and they don't, I think, What's wrong with them? I even asked Bill about it. I said, 'Why are all my friends gay men?' And he said, 'Oh, I know why.' But then he still wouldn't explain it to me!"

While she waits for that explanation, she'll be plenty busy, counting the days until Dreamgirls' Christmas release and dealing with her first movie promotion experience. I warn her about press junkets and how she'll be asked the same question over and over for hours. "Oh, that happened with Idol too," she says, welcoming anyone, journalist or fan, to approach her at any time, demonstrating the kind of lovable poise it will take to keep her steady if the film becomes the next Chicago. And more, if early buzz about her delivering an award-baiting, big-screen version of her electric Carousel of Hope performance is true. "I just love interacting with people," she adds. "Always. I really do. This whole experience just feels really good."

White is the author of Exile in Guyville and the film critic for Movies.com.

Six degrees of Dreamgirls

Broadway Memories: Dreamgirls opened December 20, 1981: ran for over 1,500 performances; and won six Tony awards. Jennifer Holliday toured with the show in a mid-1990s revival.

Embarrassing Idol Connection:

Tony-winning costar Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change) suffered through From Justin to Kelly, in which her dance partner was a beach towel.

Weirdest Idol Connection: Queen Latifah once played booted-off contestant Frenchie Davis on a Saturday Night Live sketch, singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."

Number of New Songs Written for the Film: Four by original Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger.

Number of Costumes Produced for Cast and Extras: Approximately 6,000.

Queer-Cinema Moment of Immortality: In Longtime Companion a character lip-synchs the Dreamgirls title song into a hairbrush.

Blink and You'll Miss: The Office's John Krasinski in a small role.

Urkel Alert: Former child star Jaleel White (Family Matters) appears as a booking agent at the Apollo.--D.W.