Taraji P Henson Explains How DC Shaped Her
With the highly anticipated theatrical release of the musical adaptation of The Color Purple just weeks away, Tastar and Golden Globe-winning actress Taraji P. Henson recently delved into the upcoming performance and reflected on her journey as an actress, emphasizing the role her hometown of DC played in shaping her.
In a conversation with Variety, Henson was joined by fellow DC native and American Fiction star Jeffrey Wright, who eagerly brought up their shared hometown.
“I’m wondering if we might be family,” Wright quipped before diving into how growing up in the nation’s capital influenced Henson's approach to acting.
The actress attributed her ability to craft iconic characters like Cookie on Empire and her Oscar-nominated role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to D.C.'s "tough audiences" and the resilience she gained from earning her diploma at Howard University.
Henson initially attended the University of North Carolina, where she studied electrical engineering. However, she dropped out after failing a math class. She later transferred to the Historically Black University, where she took up theater while working to support herself and her then-newborn son, Marcell Johnson.
“I started off as just regular drama,” she told Wright. “Then I went to rehearsal for ‘Dreamgirls,’ and when they started singing, I was like, ‘Oh, my God! I want to do this.’”
Henson added: “I switched my major and was very successful in the musical theater department. But then I got pregnant my junior year. Now I’m a mother, time is ticking, and I can’t stay in college forever. Music theory is like math; I suck at math, so I switched back to drama.”
