Taraji P. Henson
Taraji Henson is an American film and television actress. She is best known as Cookie Lyon on the Fox drama series Empire for which she won a Critics' Choice Award, a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In 2008 she received an Academy Award nomination for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Henson is also a singer and provided the vocals for the Three 6 Mafia track "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2006. Henson is a graduate of Howard University where she studied drama, a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and is the single mother of a grown son.
2 Books Written
From Taraji P. Henson, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe winner, and star of the award-winning film Hidden Figures , comes an inspiring and funny memoir—“a bona fide hit” ( Essence )—about family, friends, the hustle required to make it in Hollywood, and the joy of living your own truth.With a sensibility that recalls her beloved screen characters, including Katherine, the NASA mathematician, Yvette, Queenie, Shug, and the iconic Cookie from Empire , Taraji P. Henson writes of her family, the one she was born into and the one she created. She shares stories of her father, a Vietnam vet who was bowed but never broken by life’s challenges, and of her mother who survived violence both at home and on DC’s volatile streets. Here, too, she opens up about her experiences as a single mother, a journey some saw as a burden but which she saw as a gift.Around the Way Girl is also a classic actor’s memoir in which Taraji reflects on the world-class instruction she received at Howard University and how she chipped away, with one small role after another, at Hollywood's resistance to give women, particularly women of color, meaty significant roles. With laugh-out-loud humor and candor, she shares the challenges and disappointments of the actor’s journey and shows us that behind the red carpet moments, she is ever authentic. She is at heart just a girl in pursuit of her dreams in this “inspiring account of overcoming adversity and a quest for self-discovery, written with vitality and enthusiasm” ( Shelf Awareness ).
From award-winning actress and mental-health advocate Taraji P. Henson, You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) shows kids the great things that can happen when we approach others and ourselves with empathy, patience, and love.In this debut picture book from Taraji P. Henson, quirky, stylish and a bit off-the-cuff Lil TJ is ready for her first day of school. But when she gets there, TJ finds that everything she does is a little different than everyone else and she’s standing out in all the wrong ways. Once TJ’s classmate Beau notices, he relentlessly teases her. TJ is filled with anxiety and doubt until she recalls some important words of wisdom from her Grandma Patsy. When she looks inside to her own creativity and personality, she figures out how to help herself make new friends! —and helps someone else too!You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!) is the perfect read for:Easing back-to-school jitters and setting a course for the new school yearHelping children ages 4-8 to overcome anxieties and embrace what makes them uniqueClassroom and library story time, as well as bedtime readingPromoting mental wellness and learning socialization skills, embracing the importance of standing in their own uniqueness, and promoting friendship over bullying.