Jennifer Hudson: I’m a tree with many branches

Jennifer Hudson never wants to have to choose between acting and singing.

The former American Idol contestant has shown her multi-talented skills with both hugely successful albums and a critically-acclaimed acting career.

But the 33-year-old star says she is happy having her fingers in more than one pie, and doesn't favour one industry over the other.

"I give 100%, whether it's singing or acting," Jennifer told Billboard magazine. "I hope I never have to choose between the two."

Prior to starring in 2006 movie Dreamgirls, Jennifer had never contemplated the possibility of an acting career.

But after her mother encouraged her, she went on to star in the film that earned her an Oscar.

"I had never even thought of acting, to be honest," Jennifer said. "It was actually my mom who was like, 'Jenny, I think you could act.' I'm like, 'Yeah, whatever, Mama.' Then I turned around and won an Academy Award on my first film. The only other acting experience that I had was [when I performed] on the Disney Wonder cruise ship."

But despite being hugely talented at both acting and singing, Jennifer insists she always focuses entirely on one medium when embarking on a new project.

And Jennifer knows that if she was to take on both an acting and singing role at the same time, she wouldn't be able to give her all in either.

"I don't want to have too many irons in the fire because something suffers," she said. "I like to focus on whatever it is I'm doing at the time. If it's film, I don't want to sing at all. If it's singing, I don't want to do film at all. Music was always first for me, it's my love and passion. But I'm a tree with many branches, and there's so much more to express."