WHAT HENSON WANTS
Actress continues to stand up for herself and build on her success
Taraji P. Henson had LOS ANGELES been steadily acting for more than a decade, with nearly three dozen projects under her belt, before she reached a critical turning point in her career: what she thought was a fair paycheque.
“Hollywood can be cheap. They love a great performance at a discount price ... IF they can get it,” she says. “I always seemed to get respect, as far as work (went). I just needed to get my money.”
The shift she saw came when she first collaborated with writer-producer-director Tyler Perry, on The Family That Preys.
Henson was just coming off The Curious Case of Benjamin Button when she initially started talking with Perry about the project and, when she told him she didn’t get paid exactly what she hoped for on Benjamin Button, he told her what to go for and became “the first person to pay me what I thought I deserved at the time,” Henson says. The two went on to work together two more times, for 2009’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself and 2018’s Acrimony.
“Now I’ve proven my worth, so I say no a lot,” she says. “You want a discount price? Get a discount actress.”
Henson marked another career milestone on Jan. 28, getting a star (number 2,655) on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Although she has received critical praise and awards recognition (including an Academy Award nomination, three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win) throughout the years, this was special to her in a different way.
“It means I’ve been doing something important in Hollywood,” she says.
At the event, she said: “I want to break through glass ceilings when they tell women over 40: ‘You’re done, we’re sending you out to pasture, we’re going to hire someone young and sexy.’
“But then when I look up and see those men still performing and doing these kick-ass roles at 60, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, I still look good.’
“I’m not ready to go out to the pasture, so here I am. So I fight for roles that will break through glass ceilings so that when these young women coming behind me, they won’t have the same narrative that we have. We can’t drop the torch now, ladies out there, anyone in the industry.
“But we also need our men,” she said. “That’s why I love men and protect them, because we need each other. We can’t bash each other, we have to reach across the table and help each other.
“I am for justice for all, I am for all people.”
Henson’s star is an acknowledgment primarily for her film work, such as the Perry projects, also Hustle & Flow, Hidden Figures and Baby Boy. But she has also thrived in other media, including TV (Person of Interest, The Division, Empire) and theatre.
“I do whatever excites me,” she says. “It’s not like I go, ‘This is how I’m going to attack this year.’ Things come to me, and I’m either passionate about them or not.”
“I don’t do things just for cheques,” she says. “My fans trust me too much, you know? You can have a great resumé and not have the audience to back it up. I do.”
A large part of Henson’s audience comes from Fox’s musical family drama Empire, in which she plays the instantly memorable Cookie Lyon, the matriarch of a dysfunctional family owned entertainment company. The show debuted in 2015 to the tune of almost 10 million total live viewers and then consistently grew its audience every subsequent week of the first season. A large part of that success was Henson herself, who contributed some of the most quotable lines in early episodes, which led to the show and the character trending on social media.
In an age when network series often struggled to break into the zeitgeist, Empire was everywhere and Henson “felt like a rock star,” she says.
The initial success also led to international recognition — something Henson had been previously told was not feasible due to her skin colour.
“I’ve been told my entire career (that) black culture and black projects don’t sell well overseas,” she says. “Then, all of a sudden, it’s a major hit (there) because people started streaming it illegally. The people forced Fox to sell it abroad. That blew me away.”
In addition to the catchy songs, familial drama and incredible lifestyles, Empire has also tackled tough issues including living with HIV, data privacy, domestic violence and abuse.
“I love that we attack those issues head-on and don’t make them pretty. In life, they’re not,” Henson says. “It’s emotionally draining to have to deal with that, (but) art is definitely a healing tool. You can change lives (and) hearts through art. You can change people’s perspective and perception of different cultures. We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
But “you hear celebrities say, ‘Be careful what you ask for’ — it’s the truth,” she says. “You want success and you want your work to connect with the people, but the danger in that is you lose a bit of yourself. I lose being able to go outside and walk my dog by myself. I miss waking up Saturday morning and ... digging through the sale racks with sweats on. My life is not private anymore.”
Henson also has high hopes What Men Want, a remake of the 2000 film What Women Want.
“I’m so happy and delighted I finally got to break the ceiling with comedy,” she says. “That’s what I do! It was good to spend my summer laughing instead of crying. Hopefully it opens the door for more to come. A big comedy franchise would be great,” she says. “I’m just putting it out there in the universe!”