Taraji’s Tipping Point
There’s one common thread that weaves through many of the roles that Taraji P. Henson has played. And it’s that of a fighter. Going after what she wants is in her veins. The Washington, DC native re-routed the course of her life, uprooted her family, and has soared ever since. Her father asked her one question and the choices that followed, along with hard work, led her on a fulfilling journey that was once a dream deferred.
The break up from her boyfriend was fresh. But a broken heart wouldn’t be her excuse for excelling. So with her Howard University degree in her heart, and her precious toddler by her side, she moved across the country to act.
“I graduated from college and I had this degree in Fine Arts,” she shared with the cast of The View. “And my dad saw me coming and going to work everyday and he was like ‘What are you doing?’ And I was like ‘Making a living. What are you talking about?’ And he asked me, ‘How are you going to get acting jobs when they’re not here. You need to go to LA where the jobs are.’ So my family threw a party, and they raised $700 and I moved to LA. And I took my son.”
A question led to a thought, which led to her choice, to just do it. And that same passion has swept her off her feet and into a world of Emmy nominations and a glorious Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV drama. Her roots, proudly put on blast in her witty memoir Around the Way Girl also tells the stuff that she is made of: Genuine determination and perseverance. Her courageous mother and larger than life father loved her with all that they had. And they taught her to see obstacles as opportunities. The nation’s capital is where she grew up, yet, she learned to be brave enough to leave behind, when the time was right.
Her East Coast roots always remain in her heart. They are the fuel that propels her to headline Proud Mary and Not Easily Broken. Her art imitates her life. And she plays her roles with such intention and fervor that you lose sight of Henson and get engrossed in every character she becomes. The outspoken girlfriend in Baby Boy; the pregnant prostitute in Hustle & Flow; the no nonsense mother (to Brad Pitt’s character) in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the dedicated turned relentless wife in Acrimony; and the widowed mathematical genius fighting rampant racism and sexisim in Hidden Figures are just a few of her phenomenal big screen characters.
And we’re all in for a night of gut busting laughter this winter when she stars in What Men Want, as a glass ceiling breaker in an all boys club of sports agents. Henson never disappoints when tickling the funny bone, always finding a brilliant way to expose her wit and humor on screen.
Then, there is her pièce de résistance: Cookie Lyon.
There could never be an Empire without this one of a kind Empress. The role that she almost fed to the shredder turned into her express elevator to fame. When her agent brought her the script, she says all she saw was “hip hop” and “record label” and thought “boring, boring!” until she got a glimpse of Cookie which took her on an emotional rollercoaster. Apprehension, shock, intrigue, and plain old mind blowing are the litany of feelings Cookie evoked. “I’m the type of artist that if the role doesn’t scare me I don’t want it because it’s not going to change me as a person,” she said backstage minutes after receiving her Golden Globe for the character.
“I think that we tried to shake up television with this role,” she added. “TV was too safe. Life is not safe. And I think that we did that with this show.” And maybe she saw just a bit of herself between the lines of that script. “Cookie is the American Dream,” she told W magazine. “She started from nothing and now she’s at the top.”
Her father’s words still lift her higher each day. He has told her that life is choice driven, and that you always have the option to change your mind and make better choices. And choosing Cookie is likely one of her best choices along with making her move to Hollywood. “I didn’t hear the naysayers when they told me ‘You’re too old to go to California. If you don’t hit by 25 you’re not going to make it,’” she said at the Women in Film Crystal Lucy Awards.
“But I had a passion and I had a dream and I dived in.”