Taraji P. Henson

Taraji P. Henson (birthname: Taraji Penda Henson) is one of the trailblazers for the new generation of Black female actors in Hollywood, a high-energy performer of great range and intensity as exemplified in her vivid turn as Cookie on the long-running Fox TV series, Empire (2015-2020).

After five years of TV guest appearances on such network hits as ER (1998) and Felicity (1998-1999), Henson’s first significant movie role was in John Singleton’s Locarno festival award-winning Baby Boy (2001), with Tyrese Gibson, Snoop Dogg, and Ving Rhames.

Henson’s first triumph was in the Sundance indie discovery, Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow (2005), with Terrence Howard and Anthony Anderson. Henson, one of Singleton’s favorite actors, rejoined him for the crime drama, Four Brothers (2005), with Mark Wahlberg and Tyrese Gibson, followed by Joe Carnahan’s cynical action movie starring Ben Affleck, Smokin’ Aces (2006), with Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, and Ryan Reynolds.

Taraji P. Henson gained great acclaim—and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, one of 13–for the role of Queenie in David Fincher’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, and Mahershala Ali. Henson joined Hong Kong stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith for the hit revival, The Karate Kid (2010).

Henson expanded her portfolio to include producing, No Good Deed (2014), with Idris Elba. She executed the same combination of star-executive producer with Babak Nafaji’s thriller Proud Mary (2018), with Danny Glover and Xander Berkeley, and Neil Shankman’s What Men Want (2019), with Tracy Morgan and Erykah Badu.

Taraji P. Henson’s biggest role to date was her portrayal of Black female NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson in Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures (2016), with Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, and Kirsten Dunst, which was nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture and won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Cast.

Taraji P. Henson joined the Despicable Me voice cast for her role of Belle Bottom in Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with Steve Carell, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Pierre Coffin, and Dolph Lungren. In recent years, Henson has performed as a voice actor in animated features, including Disney Animation’s Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and the Canadian-made PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023).

Taraji P. Henson collaborated with the gifted Canadian director Michael Dowse for the action comedy, Coffee & Kareem (2020), with Ed Helms, and then performed two consecutive voice roles in animated features: First, as Belle Bottom in Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Lucy Lawless, Michelle Yeoh, and Danny Trejo; and then in PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023), co-written and directed by Cal Brunker, with Henson joining Mckenna Grace, Marsai Martin, Kim Kardashian, Chris Rock, Serena Williams, James Marsden, and Kristen Bell, and which grossed over $197 million for Paramount/Nickelodeon.

Playing the role of Shug Avery, Henson joined the ensemble of Danielle Brooks, Fantasia Barrino, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, and Jon Batiste in director Blitz Bazawule’s and writer Marcus Gardley’s screen version of the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple (2023). Henson starred in writer-director Alessandro Camon’s cop-crime movie, Time Alone (date to be announced), with Clayton Cardenas.