The 41-year-old actress Taraji P. Henson covers the Feb 2012 issue of Upscale Magazine. Check out a few of the highlights from the interview below.
On being a mom first, actress second: “This Hollywood thing? It’s my job. That’s it. I love it and I worked hard for it. But it by no means defines who I am. When I go home, my family and friends say, ‘I liked your movie. Now can you go was your dishes please?”
On speaking up and not apologetic about the: TV Guide incident that snubbed her from the “Person Of Interest” cover story: “I just stated a fact. And the people spoke. And then CBS pulled the whole cover. I get that all the time. Sometimes I admit I feel like, ‘Can I catch a break?’ That wasn’t the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last. This was just one time I chose to speak on it.”
On facing fully forward and looking for new challenges: “Hollywood keeps trying to tell me that black women can’t open a film. I will absolutely prove them wrong before my career is done. I want to stretch my acting muscle and do something completely different. I’d love to play a man. Sounds weird, but I want to do something that make me work hard. Call me kooky, but I always want to go outside my comfort zone.”
On playing a bad girl for the first time in the upcoming Tyler Perry’s ‘Think Like A Man’ film: “You’ve never seen me play this girl. She’s a bitch. And she’s the pretty girl in the film. I wanted this role so bad. I told the casting folks,’if you don’t let me get that role, I don’t need to be in this movie at all.’ They were thinking about casting a white girl for the role and I said, ‘No. I can do this.’ And then of course, when it’s time to start filming, I freaked out. I said, wait’ Maybe I should play the baby-momma instead….[LOL] I was scared because it’s so different than anything I’ve ever done.”
You can find this new issue in the US on newsstands everywhere.
