Taraji P. Henson

Taraji Penda Henson ( ; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in '' Baby Boy'' (2001). She played a prostitute in ''Hustle & Flow'' (2005), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher's '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), for which she received Academy Award, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, she appeared in the action comedy ''Date Night'', and co-starred in the remake of ''The Karate Kid'' alongside Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.

Henson has also had an extensive and successful career in television, including series such as ''The Division'', ''Boston Legal'' and ''Eli Stone''. In 2011, she starred in the Lifetime Television film '' Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story'', which brought her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. From 2011 to 2013, she co-starred as Detective Jocelyn Carter in the CBS drama ''Person of Interest'', for which she won an NAACP Image Award. She starred in the ensemble films '' Think Like a Man'' (2012) and its 2014 sequel. In 2015 she began starring as Cookie Lyon in the Fox drama series ''Empire'', for which she became the first African-American woman to win a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series. She also won a Golden Globe Award; and was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2015 and 2016.

In 2016, ''Time'' named Henson one of the 100 most influential people in the world. That year, she released a ''New York Times'' best selling autobiography titled ''Around the Way Girl''. Also that year, she was praised for her starring role as NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson in the critically acclaimed biographical drama film ''Hidden Figures'', for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Early life and education

Henson was born September 11, 1970, in Southeast Washington, D.C., the daughter of Bernice (née Gordon), a corporate manager at Woodward & Lothrop, and Boris Lawrence Henson, a janitor and metal fabricator.Tucker, Neely (October 6, 2011). Henson, spent most of her summers as a child in Scotland Neck, NC a small town in between Rocky Mount and Ronoake Rapids, NC about an hour and a half from Raleigh, NC and 45 mins from VA stateline
"The real Taraji Henson"
''The Washington Post''. She has often spoken of the influence of her maternal grandmother, Patsy Ballard, who accompanied her at the Academy Awards the year she was nominated. Her first and middle names are of Swahili origin: Taraji ("hope") and Penda ("love"). According to a mitochondrial DNA analysis, her matrilineal lineage can be traced to the Masa people of Cameroon. She has said that North Pole explorer Matthew Henson was "the brother of my great-great-grandfather."

Henson graduated from Oxon Hill High School, in 1988. She attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she intended to study electrical engineering, before transferring to Howard University to study drama. To pay for college, she worked mornings as a secretary at The Pentagon and evenings as a singing-dancing waitress on a dinner-cruise ship, the ''Spirit of Washington''.

Film career

Early career (2001–2014)

Henson received her SAG membership card in the early 1990s for doing three roles as a background performer. Her first prominent role was in the 2001 comedy-drama film '' Baby Boy'', where she portrayed Yvette, alongside singer Tyrese Gibson.

In 2005, Henson was in the independent film ''Hustle & Flow'' as Shug, the love interest of Terrence Howard, who portrayed the male lead DJay. She made her singing debut in the film, which was nominated for two Academy awards and won one. In 2008 she appeared with Brad Pitt in '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', where she played Queenie, Benjamin's mother, and for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In an interview with Lauren Viera of ''The Chicago Tribune'', she noted that "Queenie is the embodiment of unconditional love."

Henson acted in two Tyler Perry films, ''The Family That Preys'' in 2008 and '' I Can Do Bad All By Myself'' in 2009. In 2010 she appeared in the remake of ''The Karate Kid'' with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Though reviews were lackluster, the film was a commercial success.

In 2011 Henson starred as Tiffany Rubin in the Lifetime Movie Network film '' Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story''. It was based on true events in the life of a New York woman whose son, Kobe, was abducted by his biological father to South Korea. Her portrayal of Rubin received positive reviews and earned her several award nominations, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

In 2012, Henson was in the large ensemble cast film '' Think Like A Man'', based on Steve Harvey's 2009 book ''Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man''. She reprised the role in the film's sequel, ''Think Like a Man Too'', released in June 2014.

''Hidden Figures'' and beyond (2015–present)

In 2016, Henson starred in the biographical drama film ''Hidden Figures'', a major box-office success nominated for numerous awards, including three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer) and two Golden Globes ( Best Supporting Actress for Spencer and Best Original Score). It won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

In January 2018, she starred in Sony Screen Gems's thriller-drama film ''Proud Mary'', as a hit woman whose life is turned around when she meets a young boy who awakens the maternal instinct she never knew she had. In March she starred in the film '' Tyler Perry's Acrimony'' as a faithful wife who, after tiring of standing by her husband, is enraged when she believes herself betrayed. In November, she voiced the character Yesss in Disney's ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'', a sequel to the studio's ''Wreck-It Ralph''.

In February 2019, Henson starred in ''What Men Want'' (based on the 2000 Mel Gibson romantic comedy ''What Women Want'') as a female sports agent, looked down upon by male colleagues, who gains the power to hear men's thoughts. In April 2019, she starred in the historical drama '' The Best of Enemies'', portraying civil rights activist Ann Atwater.

Henson is also slated to star in and produce ''The Emmett Till Story'', a film about Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black Chicago teen who was abducted, tortured, murdered, and dumped in a river by two white men in rural Mississippi in 1955. Henson will play Till's mother, Mamie.

Television career

Henson has guest-starred on several television shows, including The WB's ''Smart Guy'', the Fox series ''House'' in 2005, and CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' in 2006. She also starred in an episode of '' Sister, Sister.''

Henson has also been a cast member on several television shows, including Lifetime's ''The Division'' and ABC's ''Boston Legal'' for one season. Her recurring characters include Angela Scott on ABC's ''Eli Stone''. In 2011, she was cast in the CBS crime-suspense series ''Person of Interest.'' In the November 20, 2013 episode, "The Crossing", after co-starring for two and a half years, Henson's character, 'Joss' Carter was killed as part of the series' new storyline. In February 2014, several months after her last ''Person of Interest'' episode, Henson was hired by Fox to star in ''Empire,'' a musical drama set in the hip hop recording industry, where she plays Cookie Lyon opposite former ''Hustle & Flow'' costar Terrence Howard. Fox ordered the pilot in May 2014, and the series debuted on January 7, 2015, with positive critical reviews and wide commercial success. The role brought Henson widespread recognition and critical acclaim. In July 2015, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and submitted the show's pilot for Emmy voting. In January 2016, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for ''Empire'', becoming only the third African-American actress to take home the award after Gail Fisher (1972) and Regina Taylor

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