Taraji P. Henson in an international TV and movie star that people can't get enough of. Live In The D caught up her while she was in Detroit for the Women's Empowerment Conference as the key note speaker.
Taraji solidified her A-list status playing a NASA mathematician in the block buster film "Hidden Figures" released in 2016. Before this, she’s played a wide range of characters from police officer to stay at home mom . In selecting her roles she says, "I studied theater so I've read some of the most amazing literature known to man. I know what a good script looks like. If by page ten I'm not ready to turn to page eleven of a script, it's probably not for me." She obviously got past page ten of her next movie, "Proud Mary", where she plays a hit woman, set for release in January of 2018.
However, with over twenty years in show business, her success wasn't overnight and not without obstacles. She says, "I never started this journey with the understanding that there weren't going to be challenges or detours ahead, or u-turns sometimes. So I knew that and with that understanding it was like when you face your fears what's there to fear after that? I kinda had to do that before I could tackle Hollywood with a kid." While facing Hollywood head on she credits her son as her motivation all of these years.
Her advice to others pursuing a dream is, "When you hit roadblocks that means you've become unclear about your bigger picture, your dream. So you have to reassess, refocus, reevaluate... and that should reignite something inside of you."
Taraji talked about being very vocal on social media and showing all sides of her personality, "With social media it's hard for people not know anything. And I'm very vocal on social media so they know I'm funny and goofy and all that."
Though the Women's Empowerment Conference was her first visit to Detroit she says, "The people are great!" Hopefully, her trip inspires her to come back.
Tati had to ask about her celebrity crush, Idris Elba, and Taraji jokingly replies, "Working with Idris... it was ok. He has really bad breath and he's really not that cute so I really don't know why you're asking... out of all the men I've worked with. Idris? Like really? No, he's great... I love working with Idris. " Not a surprising answer, at all.