Taraji P. Henson

She became pregnant during her college and gave birth to her son Marcell in 1994. The father of her son was his high-school sweetheart.

Her matrilineal lineage has been traced to the Masa people of Cameroon.

Taraji P. Henson was born on September 11, 1970, in Washington, D.C. in the family of Boris Lawrence Henson and Bernice Gordon. In Swahili language her first name ‘Taraji’ means hope and her middle name ‘Penda’ means love.

Her father was a metal fabricator and mother was a corporate manager. Her parents parted ways when she was just two. She is related to the late explorer Matthew Henson.

She wanted to study at the ‘Duke Ellington School for the Arts’ at Washington but was unsuccessful. Following the setback she joined the ‘Oxon Hill High School’ and completed her graduation in 1988.

She took up electrical engineering at the ‘North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’. Following her failure in pre-calculus, she took a transfer at the ‘Howard University’ to pursue theatre.

To support her education she simultaneously took up two jobs in shifts. While she served at ‘The Pentagon’ as a secretary in the morning, she worked at the ‘Spirit of Washington, as a cruise-ship entertainer in the evenings.

In 1997, she made her acting debut with the television show ‘Smart Guy’. Some of her early television works include series like ‘ER’ (1998), ‘Sister, Sister’ (1999), ‘Division’ (2002-2004), ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2006) and ‘Boston Legal’ (2007-2008). Her first television movie was ‘Murder She Wrote: The Last Free Man’ (2001).

The first couple of film releases of Taraji P. Henson include ‘The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle’ and ‘Satan's School for Girls’ in 2000.

In 2001, she landed up with her breakthrough film, ‘Baby Boy’, a comedy drama that earned her the ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the ‘Bet Awards’. She also received the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ award at the ‘Black Movie Awards’.

Moving on in 2005 she played Shug, a prostitute in the ‘Oscar winning independent film ‘Hustle & Flow’. She also lent her voice for the film’s song ‘It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp’. She got nominated for her role in the ‘NAACP Image Awards’, ‘MTV Movie Awards’, ‘Screen Actors Guild Awards’ and also by the ‘Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association’. The film raised her bar as an actress in the entertainment industry.

Her steady progression in films continued with playing main parts in films like ‘Smokin' Aces’ and ‘Talk to Me’ in 2007.

She is an advocate of the cause of ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA). She has done a couple of ads for ‘PETA’ including posing nude for the campaign ‘I'd Rather Be Naked Than Wear Fur’ in January 2011 and accompanying her dog Uncle Willie for the campaign ‘Be an Angel for Animals’ in 2013.

She was part of the ‘NOH8 Campaign’ ad in February 2015 that supports same sex marriage.