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Taraji P. Henson had been active for more than 10 years, with nearly three dozen projects to her credit, before reaching a turning point in her career: what she considered to be fair wages.
"Hollywood can be cheap. They like exceptional performance at discount prices … they can get it, "she says. "I always seemed to get respect, as long as I worked [went]. I just needed to get my money. "
The change she saw occurred when she first collaborated with screenwriter, producer and director Tyler Perry on the show The Family That Preys.
Henson had just talked about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" when she started talking about the project with Perry and, when she told him that she had not been paid exactly what? she was hoping for "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," says Henson. The two men then worked together two more times, for "I Can Do It Alone" in 2009 and "Acrimony" in 2018.
"Now that I have proved my value, I do not say much. You want a discount price? Get a discount actress, "she says.
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Henson is about to mark another turning point in his career with the entry of a star on January 28 on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Although she has received critical praise and awards (including an Academy Award nomination, three Emmy nominations, and a Golden Globe) over the years, this is her own in a different way.
"It means I'm doing something important in Hollywood," she says. "For me, it's important because my son, my mom, my grandmother, who is still alive and will be 94 years old, will be here."
The Henson star is above all a recognition for his work at the movies, such as the aforementioned projects Perry, "Hustle & Flow", "Hidden Figures" and "Baby Boy", but she has also thrived in other media , including television ("Person of Interest", "The Division", "Empire") and the theater.
"I do what interests me," she says. "It's not like I'm leaving," that's how I'm going to attack this year. "Things come to mind, and I'm pbadionate or not."
One of these projects was his special show "White Hot Holidays" for Fox. She launched it in 2015, as a producer and co-starred with her co-star "Empire," Terrence Howard, and in 2016 and 2017 she hosted the solo.
"It was my baby," she says about the show, which she's shopping for elsewhere because Fox has chosen not to take it for 2018.
"I do not just check," she adds. "My fans trust me too much, you know? You can have a good resume and not have the public to back it up. I do."
Much of Henson's audience comes from Fox's musical family drama "Empire", in which she embodies the memorable snapshot Cookie Lyon, the matriarch of a dysfunctional family entertainment company. The show was premiered in 2015 for nearly 10 million viewers, and then its audience grew every week of the first season. Henson herself contributed largely to this success, contributing to some of the most cited lines in the first episodes, which led to the series and profile of the character on social networks.
At a time when series of networks were often struggling to break through in the spirit of the times, "Empire" was everywhere and Henson "felt like a rock star," she says.
The initial success also led to international recognition – something that had previously been said to Henson was not feasible due to the color of his skin.
"I have told all my career [that] black culture and black projects do not sell well abroad, "she says. "Then suddenly, it's a major success [there] because people began to spread it illegally; people forced Fox to sell it abroad. That has cut my breath. "
In addition to catchy songs, family drama and incredible lifestyles, "Empire" also tackled some tough issues, including living with HIV, data privacy, violence and domestic abuse.
"I like that we are tackling these problems head-on and we are not making them pretty. In life, that's not the case, "says Henson. "It's exhausting to be faced with that, [but] art is definitely a healing tool. You can change lives [and] hearts through the art. You can change people's point of view and their perception of different cultures. We do what we are supposed to do. "
"Empire" is now in its fifth season and Henson regularly works on such films as "Acrimony", "Proud Mary" and "What Men Want" during breaks in his lead role on the small screen. This constant workload has shown him the complications arising from the growing awareness.
"You hear celebrities say," Pay attention to what you ask, "that's the truth," she says. "You want to succeed and you want your work to connect with people, but the danger is that you lose a little bit of yourself. I lose the opportunity to go out and walk my dog alone. I'm bored of waking up Saturday morning and … rummaging through the sweaty shopping baskets. My life is no longer private. "
Although Henson does not hesitate to share some parts of her life on her own social media, she shares the fact that she often has to get ready when she logs on to Instagram because she never knows if the comments will be good or bad. And then there are the other cameras that come out when people see it outside and about which it took a while to get used to it.
"I've been doing it for 20 years. It took me a minute to reach this level. I miss the old time, I must say, she admits.
But Henson finds the light in his future work. In addition to a long film about Emmett Till, she says that she's in "a few milliseconds" of her next break project and that she's got a new love for voiceover roles after her pbadage in "Ralph Breaks the Internet".
"I was an only girl and all I had was my imagination," she says. "That's what you need when you enter this studio; you do not have any other actor in front of you. It's just you, a microphone and your imagination. … This is where I have the most success, because all these years of play alone. I want to do so much more. "
And Henson also hopes that the release of the 2000 movie "What Men Want", which is a remake of the 2000 film "What Women Want", will mark a new turning point in his career.
"I am so happy and delighted to have finally managed to break the ceiling with comedy," she says. "It's what I do! It was good to spend my summer laughing instead of crying." Hopefully this opens the door to others; a great comedy franchise would be great. just put it in the universe! "
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