Taraji P. Henson In Upscale

41 year old actress Taraji P. Henson has been putting in work over the past few years while snatching up award winning roles left and right. She’s covering the latest issue of Upscale Magazine with the caption, ‘This Hollywood thing? It’s my job…But by no means, define who I am.” Inside, she speaks on Hollywood’s perception that a black woman can’t open a film, being snubbed by TV Guide and her new role in ‘Think Like A Man’.On wanting to prove ‘Hollywood’ wrong: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 speaking up about being snubbed by TV Guide when they decided to leave her out of a cover shoot with her co-starsI 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 playing a bad girl for the first time in the upcoming ‘Think Like A Man’ film:You’ve never seen me play this girl. She’s a b*tch. 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.”Read more over at PopsessiveSidenote: Last October, Taraji’s hometown newspaper ‘The Washington Post’ wrote a very lengthy but intriguing story on her rise to fame and the struggles she’s had to overcome as a single mother [who showed up in LA with about 700 bucks to her name and a dream] as well as her current struggles as a black actress. According to the publication, even after numerous awards and big budget films under her belt, the only director that was calling was ‘Tyler Perry’. Check out the article here . Inspiring story and true reflection of her determination.

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