Taraji P. Henson on Empire, Hustle and Flow, and Singing at the Oscars | Screen Tests | W Magazine

In this Screen Tests interview, 'Empire' actress Taraji P. Henson talks about how her dad encouraged her to be an actress, what it was like to sing about pimps and whores at the Oscars, and how she landed the role as Cookie in Empire. When the director, producer, and provocateur Lee Daniels asked Taraji P. Henson if she was interested in playing Cookie Lyon, the outrageous, captivating, and highly theatrical ex-wife of the hip-hop mogul at the center of Empire, his outrageous, captivating, and highly theatrical dynastic melodrama on Fox, her answer was a flat-out no. Daniels knew that casting Cookie was crucial to the success of Empire, so he persuaded Henson to audition. During her audition—a Skype session with Daniels, who was in Japan—Henson insisted that the Academy Award–nominated actor Terrence Howard play Lucious Lyon, Cookie’s ex. Henson had worked with Howard in 2005’s Hustle & Flow, in which he played a pimp who dreams of becoming a rap star, and she, one of his prostitutes. At the Academy Awards, Henson performed the film’s Oscar winning song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” “I sang that in front of my peers,” Henson said. “It was both amazing and embarrassing. But I think the song won for the same reason that people love Cookie. It was about coming from nothing, having goals, and going after them.” She paused. “And it was extreme. People love extremes.” In truth, there is no Empire without Henson. From the first episode, where Cookie emerges fro