It takes a certain kind of self-assuredness to keep going in an industry that seems hellbent on not paying you any special attention. Taraji P Henson has been hustling in Hollywood for a while, and no one is more aware of this than she is. “This is so nice,” she said in April, during her opening monologue on the American cultural behemoth that is Saturday Night Live. “It proves, after 20 years in the business, white people finally know who I am!” A light moment, sure, but undercut by a ribbon of truth. Henson always had star quality; it’s just taken the majority some time to notice.
At 44, Henson’s career has something of everything. First there were bit parts, in Sister, Sister and ER among others; in 2001, she got her movie debut in John Singleton’s Baby Boy. Henson’s face is a marvel: impossibly high eyebrows, eyes that narrow like a sleepy snake’s and the cutest, jutting chin. It can make her look impossibly young – or weary and old as the hills, which is how she played Brad Pitt’s mother in 2008’s The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (and got an Oscar nomination for it). Her performances as “best friend” (Something New, Think Like A Man) make me want to be her best friend.
I like her best when she does icy hauteur – and Cookie Lyon, the character she currently plays in E4’s Empire, gives her plenty of material to work with in that department. Cookie is an old-school soap opera diva: no fur is too opulent, no animal print too sacred to be worn. She is all swagger, both as Cookie and in real life. It’s her best role to date, but the thing is, Henson has more up her sleeve. Stay tuned.
