Kate Hudson Says This Oscar Nomination Feels Like the Start of a Whole New Chapter
At 46, Kate Hudson has secured a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Song Sung Blue, marking a dramatic career shift 25 years after her first nomination and years of being pigeonholed as Hollywood’s rom-com leading lady.
Hudson received another Oscar nomination (Best Actress) for the 2025 biographical musical drama Song Sung Blue — 25 years after her first Oscar nomination for Almost Famous in 2001.
She says the industry kept hiring her for romantic comedies, and financial pressures as a single mom contributed to her staying in the genre.
Hudson released her first studio album, Glorious, in 2024 despite being told she was “too old” to start a music career.
Other Best Actress nominees for the 2026 Academy Awards include Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) and Emma Stone (Bugonia).
Kate Hudson’s Early Rom-Com Success
Hudson built her career with roles in rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), You, Me and Dupree (2006), Fool’s Gold (2008) and Bride Wars (2009). Those films made her one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces.
But before the rom-com era fully took hold, she had already demonstrated dramatic range.
Her portrayal of Penny Lane in Almost Famous earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 2001 — early evidence of a depth the industry didn’t always let her explore.
Why She Stayed in the Genre
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published Feb. 14, Hudson spoke candidly about why she kept making romantic comedies for years.
“I think it’s one of the hardest genres to get right,” she said, adding that it needs to be approached “with the intention like everybody does a great film, not with the intention of making a rom-com.”
“It was clear that that’s where the industry liked to hire me and then my goal, my hope, was to make the best versions of those,” she added.
She said she followed the advice of her team and continued making rom-coms — especially when she saw the demand. Financial realities also played a role.
“You have moments where you’re also like, ‘That’s a lot of money and I’m a single mom,’” she told THR.
Kate Hudson has three kids, according to People. She shares son Ryder, 22, with her ex-husband Chris Robinson, son Bingham, 14, with her former fiancé Matt Bellamy, and daughter Rani, 7, with her fiancé Danny Fujikawa.
Hudson described the frustration of being pigeonholed by an industry that struggled to see her outside the genre.
“I was starting to be like, I really want to be doing something different. And I think when you become really famous doing that genre, it’s hard for certain filmmakers to see you in anything other than what we’re watching,” she told THR.
“These sort of things that like, ‘Well, transforming isn’t what she does’ when, in fact, it’s what I love to do,” she added.
The Musical Leap She Was Looking For
Hudson’s transformation began taking shape in 2024 when she released her first studio album, Glorious.
She acknowledged the skepticism she faced about crossing into music.
“I always thought music would be something that I would do, but then it was like, OK, don’t break what’s not broken and this idea of sort of crossover careers could have been a kiss of death. You’re sort of warned against it, like ‘Just enjoy your career, enjoy this part right now,’” Hudson told THR.
Some people told her she was “too old” to start a career in music, but she did it anyway.
“And so I did it, and then I couldn’t believe the reception that it received. It was so warm and loving and loved. And I was like, ‘Why didn’t I do this before?’” she continued.
A Career-Defining Role in Song Sung Blue
Hudson further opened up about her transformation in an interview with NPR, published Feb. 23.
She described Song Sung Blue as the kind of multifaceted role that rarely comes along for women in Hollywood.
“When you read a lot of scripts, and you read the types of characters that are written for women, very rarely do you see ones that hit all the notes,” she says of her new film.
“I got to play the comedy, some sense of humor. I got to play the love story, the desire. I got to play being a mother, and then I got to go into a place of where my life force is taken out of me,” she added.
The leap from a Best Supporting Actress nod to a Best Actress nomination underscores how far Hudson has come — and how seriously the industry is now taking her dramatic work.
“This feels like the beginning of maybe that part where I get to do a little bit more transformations than maybe I’ve been able to do in the past,” she told THR.
What Makes Rom-Com Movies Successful?
Even as she moves into new territory, Hudson hasn’t turned her back on the genre that made her famous. She told NPR what separates the great romantic comedies from forgettable ones.
“The rom-com genre is a very hard genre to get right because people see one formula of a rom-com and then they wanna repeat it over and over and over,” she said.
“But I find, at the end of the day, the ones that have succeeded are the ones that are approached like they’re going to be like a critically-acclaimed film,” she added.
Kate Hudson’s Oscar Nomination Is Personal
Hudson went on to offer a deeply personal comparison for how it feels to receive a second Oscar nomination after all these years.
“I’ve been comparing it to having my third baby,” she told NPR. “You soak in everything very differently.”
BOTTOM LINE: After more than two decades of being typecast, Kate Hudson’s Best Actress nomination for Song Sung Blue signals a new chapter — and she says it feels like just the beginning.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
