-New Urban Film News- As Awards Season Heats Up Around the World, Golden Globes Announce Best Supporting Actress Nomination for Music Superstar Mary J. Blige

Bereft of all glamorous trappings, Mary J. Blige strips bare for Golden Globe-nominated role as Florence Jackson in "MUDBOUND".

She's known around the globe as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, and as a music fan favorite around the world, and Mary J. Blige is no stranger to awards shows and nominations.  To date the r&b singer has nine Grammy awards and countless other accolades under her belt, but this year the part-time actress (with some 18 film and tv roles to her credit) snagged what was likely the most surprising Golden Globe nods of awards season - with simultaneous nominations for Best Supporting Actress in "Mudbound", and Best Original Song for the film's theme, "Mighty River".

"Mudbound" is a film tells the story of the relationship between a black and white family during America's post-WWII, 1940's era south, and their mutual struggle to survive.  In a role that is already attracting whispers of Oscar buzz, Mary J. Blige plays Florence Jackson, mother to a returning young soldier who must adjust from being a decorated war hero while in military service - to a less hospitable life in the Jim Crow south. Blige recently described to Billboard Magazine why the film was a must-do project for her: "When I read the script, I was like, “This film is extremely important,” because it’s a film that has a silver lining in it. In these types of films, you never see love as the silver lining..."

Blige's Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song is actually her third for the award category, the first two nominations being in 2006 with "Never Going to Break My Faith"  (which she co-wrote with Aretha Franklin for the film, "Bobby"), and in 2011 for "The Living Proof" (which she wrote for the award-winning film, "The Help").

When speaking of her acting role, Blige describes in another interview what she hoped viewers would take from her character Florence, the newly Golden Globe- nominated actress stated, 

" ...To be humble. To be powerful. To know who we are. Florence is like every woman. She’s the center and holds things together... She loves her family. So, I hope people know that … you can figure a way out of things. Florence was a quiet, silent power ". 

Check out Mudbound star Garrett Hedlund's reaction to the announcement of Mary's golden Globe nomination:

The Golden Globes will be telecast from the Los Angeles to a worldwide audience, Sunday January 18, 2018 at 8pm Eastern Standard Time.  Mudbound was released in a limited US theater this past November, but can be seen in both English and German on NETFLIX.