Taraji P. Henson

Taraji Penda Henson was born on 11 September 1970 in Washington, D.C., and pursued acting after initially studying electrical engineering, eventually transferring to Howard University to study theatre, funding her education partly through work as an exotic dancer, an experience she has spoken about candidly as a difficult but necessary step in pursuing her acting ambitions without family financial support.

Henson built her career through independent films and television roles during the 1990s and early 2000s, gradually establishing herself before her breakthrough performance in Hustle & Flow (2005), earning significant critical attention, and she followed this with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), demonstrating substantial dramatic range.

Henson achieved major mainstream stardom through her role as Cookie Lyon in the television series Empire (2015–2020), a character combining ferocity, humour and emotional complexity that became a genuine cultural phenomenon, earning Henson a Golden Globe Award and establishing her as one of television's most prominent and celebrated leading actresses during the show's run.

Henson has been an outspoken advocate for mental health awareness within the Black community, founding the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in 2018, named after her father, specifically addressing the significant stigma and lack of accessible mental health resources affecting Black Americans, drawing on her own family's experience with her father's mental health struggles following his military service.

Henson has continued a substantial film career alongside her television and advocacy work, including roles in Hidden Figures (2016), portraying NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, and The Color Purple (2023) musical film adaptation, demonstrating range across dramatic biographical roles and major musical productions throughout her ongoing career.

Henson has received numerous honours recognising both her acting achievement and her mental health advocacy, and remains a significant figure in contemporary American entertainment, notable both for the emotional authenticity she brings to her performances and for her sustained, deliberate work addressing mental health stigma within communities that have historically had limited access to such resources and open conversation.