When I first met Taraji P. Henson, we shared a dressing room at the annual Teens Count Event. It was exactly one year ago, Taraji was hosting and I was judging the event. We hit it off instantly. She talked about her family and how they couldn't wait to see her son Marcel as soon as they got off the plane in DC. I had never seen Taraji's breakthrough performance in Hustle & Flow but all of the kids at Constitution Hall definitely had! The crowd jumped to their feet when Taraji made her way onto the stage. She?s one of the sweetest, most down to earth people that you?ll ever meet in Hollywood. Taraji received her first Oscar nomination for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and now, our hometown girl is on the fast track to movie star super-stardom!
Taraji was born in Southeast Washington, DC, the daughter of Bernice Gordon, a corporate manager at Woodward & Lothrop, and Boris Henson, a janitor and metal fabricator. She is the great granddaughter of Matthew Henson, one of the explorers who discovered the Geographic North Pole. Her first and middle name are of Swahili origin with her first name meaning "hope" and her middle name meaning "love." Taraji attended Oxon Hill High School. She first attended NC A&T, where she started a major in Electrical Engineering. She later transferred to Howard University. She worked two jobs?in the morning as a secretary at the Pentagon and in the night as a singing and dancing waitress on a dinner cruise ship- The Spirit of Washington- to pay for Howard University.
She graduated with a degree in Theater Arts. Taraji welcomed her son Marcel in 1995. Tragically, his father (her ex-boyfriend) died in 2004. Taraji's own father died in 2006. Henson has said in an interview that her philosophy in life is: "Love as often as you can. Dance like nobody's watching. Travel. Eat. Try new foods because, like my character says, you never know what's coming for you and when it's time to let go, you got to let go." This Washington native proves more and more that dreams do come true. You go girl!
