Taraji Penda Henson was born September 11, 1970 in Southeast Washington, D. C. She is the first African-American woman to win a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series. In 2016, Time named Henson one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
About Taraji P. Henson in brief
Taraji Penda Henson was born September 11, 1970 in Southeast Washington, D. C. 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. Henson has also had an extensive and successful career in television, including series such as The Division, Boston Legal and Eli Stone. In 2016, Time named Henson one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is 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. Her first and middle names are of Swahili origin: Taraji and Penda. According to a mitochondrial DNA analysis, her matrilineal lineage can be traced to the Masa people of Cameroon. She has two younger siblings, Shawn and April. Her maternal grandmother, Patsy Ballard, accompanied her at the Academy Awards the year she was nominated. She made her singing debut in the film Hustle & Flow as Shug, who portrayed the male lead DJay. In 2011 Henson starred as Tiffany Rubin 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.
In 2012 she was in the cast of the ensemble film Think Like A Man, based on Steve Harvey’s book Think Like a Man: A Lady Act A Man. In 2013 she co-starred as Detective Jocelyn Carter in the CBS drama Person of Interest, for which she won an NAACP Image Award. In 2010 she appeared in the remake of The Karate Kid, though it did not receive a majority of positive reviews, the film was not a commercial success. In 2008 she appeared with Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where she played Queenie, Benjamin’s mother. She acted in two Tyler Perry films, The Family That Preys in 2008 and I Can Do It All By Myself in 2009. In 2015 she began starring as Cookie Lyon in the Fox drama series Empire, forwhich she became the first black woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award. She won a SAG Award for her starring role as Katherine Johnson in the critically acclaimed drama film Hidden Figures. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. That year, she released a New York Times best selling autobiography titled Around the Way Girl.
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