Jennifer Hudson: 'I utilized every platform after American Idol success'

Jennifer Hudson made sure she took advantage of every opportunity following her time on American Idol.

The singer came in seventh place when she competed on the talent show back in 2004. She is now using her experience to help her mentor hopefuls on The Voice U.K., and believes she has many pearls of wisdom garnered from her start in the industry that she can pass on to her proteges.

One tip is to never take success for granted, regardless of if you get your start in the business through a talent show.

"I'm a firm believer in taking advantage of the opportunity you're given, because going into a show like this, you kind of take it for granted," she told Digital Spy. "You have everything you need - the show is designed where you have a platform to be singing, you have the management of the show that takes care of the talent, you have a PR, you have all those things. So you kind of get used to everyone doing everything for you.

"I used to look and say, 'Okay, only one of us is going to win this so how do I stay afloat after this, once all of this goes away?' It's a matter of utilizing that platform and learning everything you can from the coaches, from the show, from the experience so that you can be able to carry on and get to your dream and, at least for me, that was my incentive even back on the show."

Jennifer's ambition certainly paid off; she won an Oscar for her role in 2006 movie Dreamgirls and has enjoyed huge success with both her acting and music careers. However, Jennifer has seen those who have sat on their laurels after finding fame on talent shows and falling at the final hurdle.

"I noticed that so many others were just taking the view that, 'Oh, I'm here and they're going to do everything for me'. No-one is going to live your dream for you, no-one is going to chase your dream for you. And that's something that everyone should keep in mind," she continued.

"This is the type of thing you cannot do unless you're passionate about it. Other than that, just go home. It's chasing after your own dreams."