Taraji P. Henson
Taraji P. Henson is a celebrated American actress known for her dynamic performances in both film and television. Born on September 12, 1970, she faced numerous challenges in her early life, including her parents' divorce and witnessing traumatic events during her childhood. Initially pursuing a degree in electrical engineering, Henson ultimately decided to follow her passion for acting, earning her degree from Howard University and moving to Hollywood to build her career.
Henson gained prominence with her role in the film "Hustle & Flow" (2005) and received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008). She is also widely recognized for her portrayal of Cookie Lyon on the hit television series "Empire" (2015–2020), earning significant accolades, including a Golden Globe Award. In addition to her acting, Henson is an advocate for mental health awareness, founding the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation to address mental health issues within the African American community.
As of 2023, Henson continues to make an impact in the industry, recently starring in a film adaptation of "The Color Purple." With a career spanning over two decades, she remains a powerful and influential figure in Hollywood.
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Subject Terms
Taraji P. Henson
Actor
- Born: September 12, 1970
- Place of Birth: Washington, DC
Contribution: Taraji P. Henson is best known for her roles in the films Hustle and Flow (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Hidden Figures (2016) and the television program Empire (2015–2020).
Background
Taraji Penda Henson was born on September 12, 1970. She did not have an easy early life. Her parents divorced when she was still a toddler, and she split her time between her mother and father. As a child, she saw her mother mugged outside their Washington, DC, apartment when she was seven years old and again at nine. During the second robbery, her mother’s face was severely injured, traumatizing the young Henson.
After high school graduation, Henson gave up on her acting dream and decided to study electrical engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. After she failed to pass a precalculus class, her father urged her to abandon school and come home instead.
After working as a secretary at the Pentagon for a year to pay off her student loans, Henson once again decided to pursue her dream of becoming an actor and enrolled at Howard University. During her junior year, her studies were thrown off track by an unplanned pregnancy, but she managed to graduate on time. With the help of her family and friends, she was able to move to Hollywood after graduation to pursue an acting career.
Career
Henson began acting with a small part on the television show Sister, Sister in 1997. She followed this with more small parts on shows such as ER and Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Major roles did not come easily for her.
Her first starring role was that of Yvette in Baby Boy (2001), regarded as a sequel to the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood sequel. While it seemed the film would be her big break, Henson landed no other major roles until 2003, when she appeared as a recurring character in the crime drama The Division. In 2005, she appeared in Hustle & Flow, a film about a former pimp trying to make it as a successful hip-hop artist. Her performance in the film earned her a 2006 Black Reel Award for best supporting actress.
Henson’s next film role was in Smokin’ Aces (2006). She then returned to television as a main character on season 4 of the television show Boston Legal, which aired in 2007–8. Afterward, she played a leading role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), a film about a man who is born old and grows younger over time. He is abandoned at birth and raised by Henson’s character, Queenie, at a nursing home. In 2009, Henson was nominated for an Academy Award for the role and won a BET Award for best actress and an Image Award for outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture.
Henson’s career took off after The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The following year, she starred in the drama Not Easily Broken (2009) and the Tyler Perry film I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009). She also had a leading role in the basketball-centered film Hurricane Season (2009). Next, Henson starred in the 2010 remake of the classic 1984 film The Karate Kid, alongside Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. She won a 2011 BET Award for best actress for her role in the film. Also in 2010, she starred in the film Once Fallen and had major roles in Date Night and Peep World.
Henson returned to television in 2011, taking a leading role as Detective Joss Carter in the drama Person of Interest. Her turn as this character earned her two BET Award nominations for best actress, in 2012 and 2013. Henson also appeared in the films The Good Doctor (2011) and Think Like a Man (2012) and starred in the 2013 sports drama From the Rough. Her turn in the television movie Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story (2011) contributed to her 2011 BET Award win and also earned her an Emmy nomination and a 2012 Image Award. She netted another Image Award in 2015 for her role in the thriller No Good Deed (2014), as well as being named the NAACP's entertainer of the year.
In 2015 she landed a starring role in the FOX drama Empire (2015–2020), in which members of a wealthy and dysfunctional family fight for control of the entertainment company their patriarch founded. For her role as Cookie Lyon, the founder's ex-wife, Henson won the 2016 Golden Globe Award for best actress in a television drama series, four consecutive NAACP Image Awards for outstanding actress in a drama series (2016–17), as well as the Critics' Choice Award for best actress in a drama series, and was nominated for the 2015 and 2016 Emmy Awards for outstanding lead actress in a drama series.
Henson starred in a number of films in the mid-to-late 2010s. Perhaps most notably, she played NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson in the 2016 feature Hidden Figures, giving a performance that earned her a 2017 NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a motion picture. She also played a hit woman in Proud Mary (2018), a woman out for revenge in Tyler Perry's Acrimony (2018), a sports agent who can hear what men are thinking in the comedy What Men Want, and a civil rights activist in The Best of Enemies (2019).
In 2021, Henson appeared in the live television production of the Tony Award–winning musical Annie: Live!. Henson's performance as Miss Hannigan, the antagonistic head of the orphanage, earned her the NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a television movie, limited-series, or dramatic special in 2022. She also appeared in the action comedy film Coffee & Kareem (2020) and lent her voice to the character of Belle Bottom in the family-friendly animated film Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). In 2023, Henson starred in a film adaptation of the stage musical The Color Purple, based on the novel of the same name by author Alice Walker. The film, which had its theatrical release on Christmas Day, received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and grossed $18 million at the domestic box office on its first day in theaters. Upon its release,The Color Purple had the largest Christmas Day theatrical premiere in over a decade and the second-largest Christmas Day opening of all time. Henson's performance in the film as the vibrant blues singer Shug Avery earned her the NAACP Image Award for outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture in 2024.
Impact
Henson is a versatile actor who is able to balance an acting career on both the big and small screens. Her ability to take on a range of different roles boosted her career. While it took a few years for her to make a name for herself, she continues to rise in Hollywood. In 2019 she was honored as one of Variety magazine's Power of Women nominees for establishing the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in 2018. The foundation, named for her late father, works to end the taboo surrounding mental health within the African American community. Henson has noted that she suffers from depression and anxiety. In April 2024, Henson appeared in Time magazine's list of the world's one hundred most influential people.
Personal Life
Henson had a son, Marcel, in 1994, with the man she had been dating since high school. Marcel's father was murdered when Marcel was nine. Henson keeps her personal life private and has said that she does not date costars.
Bibliography
Brown, Laura. "Fortune Cookie: Taraji P. Henson." Harper's Bazaar. Hearst, 13 Aug. 2015. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
Buchanan, Kyle. "Taraji P. Henson Is Tired of Fighting." The New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/movies/taraji-p-henson-the-color-purple.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
Corriston, Michele, and Cynthia Wang. "All About the Empire Cookie Spinoff—and How Taraji P. Henson Mothers Her On-Screen Sons." People. Time, 7 Aug. 2015. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
Henson, Taraji P. “Exclusive: Taraji P. Henson Talks Person of Interest and Larry Crowne.” Interview by Christina Radish. Collider.com. Collider, 1 July 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.
Henson, Taraji P. “Taraji P. Henson: Hollywood’s New Dramatic Queen.” Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 19 Jan. 2009. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.
Noonan, Kevin. "Taraji P. Henson Named NAACP's Entertainer of the Year at Image Awards." Variety. Variety Media, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 4 Sept. 2015.
Rubin, Rebecca. "Box Office: The Color Purple Triumphs on Christmas Day With $18 Million." Variety, 26 Dec. 2024, variety.com/2023/film/box-office/box-office-color-purple-christmas-day-aquaman-2-1235850527/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
“Taraji P. Henson: Biography.” TV Guide. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 26 July 2013.
Tucker, Neely. “The Real Taraji Henson.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.
Henson, Taraji P. “Taraji P. Henson Reveals She Suffers From Depression and Still Faces Pay Inequality.” Interview by Elizabeth Wagmeister. Variety, 2019, variety.com/2019/tv/features/taraji-p-henson-depression-pay-inequality-empire-1203178582/. Accessed 7 Jan. 2020.
Wiltz, Teresa. “Drama Queen.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 21 July 2005. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.