Around the Way Girl

Oscar and Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winning Best actress Taraji P. Henson penned her memoir with all the fierceness and courage you'd expect. Her book, “Around the Way Girl” was written with New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Denene Millner. With a busy filmmaking and television schedule she was motivated to tell her inspirational story, “Actually it was my fans. It seems every time I did an interview I got inquiries about when I would tell my story. So really, the fans asked and I got motivated.” Her refreshing realness begins with being raised by her divorced strong willed parents, a Vietnam vet and a single mother of two in loving yet turbulent childhood in DC. She turned the life lessons of her family as motivation for her success. She went on to study acting at Howard University and pursue her acting dreams. Her own challenges as an African American actress and single motherhood in Hollywood didn't deter her from stardom. She earned a Golden Globe for her role as Cookie in Empire, an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress opposite Brad Pitt in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and was a 2011 Emmy nominee for Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for Lifetime’s Taken From Me. She also won the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Detective Joss Carter in CBS’s Person of Interest.

Taraji shares her love of both mediums, “First let me say I love to act. My first love is film because you have more time to shoot and explore. Television is always hurried up!! But either way, I am excited by a good script and a character I can bring to life”. Her next passion project would be, “I think I am funny. There must be a comedy out there for me soon. I want to make you all laugh” she shares.

A great beauty who regularly appears on magazine covers and red carpets, Taraji talks honestly about her style evolution, being a woman of color and aging in the entertainment industry. Taraji aims high and embraces new roles. For her the pleasure is in the work. “My greatest pleasure as an actress is to stir the audience. To make them feel and relate. If I’m playing a real life person, I want to make it true. My greatest hope for “Hidden Figures” is to make Katherine Johnson proud. I want to honor her and tell the world about her achievements”.