Video: Kesha Surprises Jennifer Hudson By Revealing Her DREAMGIRLS Role

Before Kesha was known for her work on songs like Tik Tok and Right Round, she worked as an extra on the 2006 movie adaptation of the musical Dreamgirls. On a recent visit to The Jennifer Hudson Show, Kesha revealed to the Dreamgirls star that she worked on a scene in the film.

"For like $120 dollars, for 16 hours, I sat there with my hair teased to the gods," the pop star explained to a shocked Hudson. "No offense, but I hated it...We were just an extra in a scene [in a] big auditorium in downtown L.A." As an actor, Kesha later went on to star in Jen and the Holograms, directed by Wicked's Jon M. Chu, and David Lowery's A Ghost Story. 

The 2006 film Dreamgirls, based on the Broadway musical, featured a cast including Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, and Jennifer Hudson. The movie was a critical and box office hit.

Kesha is an undeniable pop icon with 10 top 10 singles, more than 3B worldwide streams, two #1 albums, four #1 songs on top 40 radio and nearly 40M followers across social media. Kesha’s ventures outside of music include a top-rated TV program, an award-winning film, a book, a cruise and a cosmetics line, all of which spotlight an artist whose passion, talent and charm has earned her legions of fans.

Additionally, Kesha has been a staunch advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and animal welfare through various organizations since the start of her career. 2023’s Gag Order, which marked Kesha’s first new album in over three years, was met by worldwide critical applause and later named “Album of the Year” by The Arts Desk while also placing in the upper echelons of year-end charts from Rolling Stone, PopMatters, The Independent, Slant, and The Sunday Times.

2024 was among undoubtedly among the most momentous years of Kesha’s historic career, with highlights including her featured role on the remix of Charli XCX’s “Spring Breakers” (found on the acclaimed Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat), starring on the cover of GLAMOUR Germany, and being honored as “Music Icon” at GLAMOUR Germany’s 2024 Women of the Year Awards. 

Kesha – who kicked off the year teaching “The Alchemy of Pop“ as Artist in Residence at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, followed by a major Ted Talk at Vancouver, BC’s TED2024 conference – further delighted fans with show-stopping festival performances at West Hollywood, CA’s OUTLOUD Music Festival At WeHo Pride, Philadelphia, PA’ Wawa Welcome America Festival in Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL’s Lollapalooza and Mexico City, MX’s Festival HERA HSBC, as well as such surprises as a live performance to over 5,000 ecstatic fans at Brooklyn, NY’s sold-out Planet Pride 2024 and a special guest appearance alongside Reneé Rapp at Indio, CA’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that saw the two stars performing Kesha’s 8x RIAA Platinum-certified, worldwide #1 classic hit, “Tik Tok,” complete with raised middle fingers and an updated lyrical shout to “F-ck P Diddy.” 

Photo Credit: Chris Haston/Warner Bros.