Helen Mirren, Jennifer Hudson Win More Critics Awards

Stage and screen star Helen Mirren now has six wins in the early pre-Oscar votes by area film critics associations. She been named Best Actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Washington D.C. Society of Film Critics, and the National Board of Review for her role as Elizabeth II in The Queen.

Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson, who plays Effie White in the musical, has now been named Best Supporting Actress Award by the Washington D.C. group (as well as the winner of its Breakthrough Performance Award) and the New York Film Critics Circle. She was the runner-up in the Best Supporting Actress category in the L.A. voting (losing to little-known Romanian actress Luminita Gheroghiou) and was named Best Breakthrough Performance by a Female by the National Board of the Review.

Both actresses also receieved nominations from the Broadcast Critics Circle this morning, and are likely nominees for the Golden Globe Award. Those nominations are due out on Thursday morning.

In addition to The Queen and Dreamgirls, other films that are scoring big in the critics’ voting include United 93, The Departed, Borat, Little Children, Babel, The Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, and Letters from Iwo Jima.