Ones to Watch: Taraji P. Henson

19 January 2009

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American actress Taraji P. Henson is best known for her roles in Baby Boy and Hustle and Flow back in 2005 but it's her new film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, alongside Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, that is really catching the attention of both audiences and critics.

The thirty eight year old star made her big screen debut in 1998 in action and crime film Streetwise before going on to appear in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle two years later.

But it was with drama Baby Boy, a sequel to the more famous Boyz N the Hood alongside Tyrese Gibson and Omar Gooding where she made her name before going on to rags to riches tale of Hustle & Flow in 2005.

Terrence Howard stars as DJay, a pimp and drug dealer eking out an existence with his three whores, one of whom, Shug (Taraji P. Henson), is hugely pregnant.

Nola (Taryn Manning) turns tricks from the backseat of DJay's beater, while Lexus (Paula Jai Parker), the hustler's high-maintenance girlfriend, strips in a cellar-like club. DJay's dissatisfaction is increasing as he senses that life has nothing more in store for him, but a chance encounter with an old school friend, Key (Anthony Anderson), re-ignites his musical aspirations.

Key is a small-time recording artist, and DJay, armed with a notebook full of lyrics, pays him a visit at home, much to the displeasure of Key's prim and proper wife (Elise Neal). Initially dubious, Key agrees to partner with DJay after hearing his stuff, and the two build a makeshift recording studio in DJay's back room, enlisting the aid of a skinny white boy (DJ Qualls) with an unlikely talent on the drum machine.

The film won a string of awards with Henson picking up Best Supporting Actress gongs at the Black Movie Awards and Black Reel Awards.

She followed this up with Four Brothers and Animal later that same year before moving into the romantic movie with Something New.

She was part of Smokin' Aces ensemble cast in 2007 before going on to work with Tyler Perry in The Family That Preys and then into television show Eli Stone.

But this year sees her kick off with possible Oscar contender The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Queenie, who finds a baby who has the appearance and physical limitations of an eighty six year old man.

Because Queenie cannot have children of her own she takes the child and calls him Benjamin. Over the film Benjamin begins to physically grow younger.

The film has earnt a string of award nominations, including some Best Supporting Actress nods for Henson at the Austin Film Critics Association, which she won, and the Broadcast Film Critics.

Up next for the actress is Not Easily Broken, which sees a couple's marriage pushed to breaking point when Claice (Henson) is hurt in a car accident, and sports drama Hurricane Season alongside Forest Whitaker.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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