Taraji P. Henson Once Felt That Hollywood ‘Didn’t Grasp My Talent’
Actor Taraji P. Henson became a more notable name thanks to her work in projects like Empire and Hidden Figures. But this success might’ve felt bittersweet for the actor, who has been candid about feeling overlooked in the film industry.
Taraji P. Henson once felt Hollywood didn’t know what to do with her
In the 2010s, Henson reached the success she’d been striving for. She was steadily building her portfolio at a young age with small roles in popular television shows such as ER, Pacific Blue, and CSI.
At the same time, her film career was also on the rise thanks to the likes of Baby Boy and Hustle & Flow. The 2015 series Empire perhaps launched Henson into a new level of fame. The award-winning music drama was a phenomenon at its time, reintroducing Henson to a much broader audience. She’d even earned a Golden Globe for her efforts, further solidifying her star-power.
But speaking with The Guardian, Henson confided that she succeeded despite Hollywood’s lack of support. Despite her versatility, there was a long stretch of time where Henson felt she wasn’t offered the types of roles to showcase her ability.
“I don’t think Hollywood quite knew what to do with me. They didn’t grasp my talent. I’m like a musician. Give me the sheet music and I’ll play you anything,” she said. “I wanna play a wizard! A warlock! Put makeup on me. Make me a long-nosed witch, some Harry Potter fantasy thing. Take me out of my body. Make me fly. Put me in a muscle suit, a mask, put me in a – I don’t know – a fatsuit. I’ll play Jabba the Hutt. I’ll play anything!”
She referenced a casting situation that she had with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein to illustrate her point. Weinstein once had Henson ousted from a fairly high-profile role that was written with the actor in mind, replacing her with Naomi Watts.
“Basically, I don’t think he saw my box-office appeal. What I heard – I didn’t sit down with the man – is that he wanted someone who was known internationally, so they got Naomi Watts,” she said.
Taraji P. Henson still had to deal with pay inequality in Hollywood even after her success
Henson may be a much bigger name in the film industry than she once was, but she asserted she’s still been shortchanged. Speaking with Gayle King on Sirius XM, she famously talked about the pay-gap she still had to deal with despite her experience. Although she was grateful for her accomplishments, this inequality was beginning to take its toll.
“I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do (and) getting paid a fraction of the cost,” she said. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t math-ing. When you start working a lot, you have a team. Big bills come with what we do. We don’t do this alone. It’s a whole entire team behind us. They have to get paid.”
Henson also broke down how film actors are typically paid, to further highlight how much money she was actually making.
“Know that off the top, Uncle Sam is getting 50%. Now you have $5 million,” she said. “Your team is getting 30% of what you gross, not after what Uncle Sam took. Now do the math. I’m only human. It seems every time I do something and break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate I’m at the bottom again like I never did what I just did, and I’m tired. I’m tired. It wears on you. What does that mean? What is that telling me? If I can’t fight for them coming up behind me then what the (heck) am I doing?”
