Taraji P. Henson Tells It Like It Is

"For the past 25 years, Taraji P. Henson has specialized in a specific type of character. She is usually a mother, or mother figure, facing a crisis. She may be tough, but she has a redeeming effect on others - whether they're a philandering man-child ( Baby Boy), an adoptee aging in reverse ( The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), or a trio of feuding record-label scions ( Empire). She is "the moral compass," the 55-year-old actress told me in April while making her Broadway debut as Bertha Holly, the big-hearted matriarch in Debbie Allen's revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone, by August Wilson."

"Bertha runs a Pittsburgh boardinghouse with her husband, Seth, played by Cedric the Entertainer, in 1911 and is part of an ensemble of Black characters a generation removed from enslavement. The couple takes in a boarder, Herald Loomis, whose search for his missing wife draws the house into a reckoning with forces - both human and supernatural - that haunt everyone who is rooming there. It is Henson's saintliest iteration of the mothering archetype to date."

"The actress doesn't feel typecast - rather, she sees her ability to reflect real-life nurturing women whom she loves as a valuable calling card. Steady work and good pay have been top of mind for Henson since she originally chose Hollywood over Broadway after finishing drama school at Howard University in 1995 with her then-toddler son, Marcell, in tow. She found the movie and TV industries to be cynical places."

"She racked up accolades - a Golden Globe and nominations for four Emmys and an Oscar - but her earnings stagnated. She had to fight for amenities her white peers got automatically. On the set of Empire, Henson pleaded for a trailer that wasn't infested with bugs. When she booked The Color Purple in 2022, she said she her rate hadn't changed in five years."

Taraji P. Henson has spent 25 years specializing in mother or mother-figure roles where she confronts crises and redeems others. She plays Bertha Holly in Debbie Allen’s revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, running a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911 with her husband Seth and taking in Herald Loomis, whose search for his missing wife brings human and supernatural reckoning to the house. Henson views her nurturing portrayals as a calling rather than typecasting, reflecting real-life women she admires. After drama school at Howard University in 1995, she chose Hollywood over Broadway, finding the film and TV industries cynical. Despite major accolades, her earnings stagnated, and she fought for amenities and pay parity, including requesting a bug-free trailer and noting her rate had not changed in five years.

Read at Vulture