美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I Had To Create My Own Lane': How Taraji P. Henson Found Her Place In Hollywood

'I Had To Create My Own Lane': How Taraji P. Henson Found Her Place In Hollywood

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:45repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: 

The actress Taraji P. Henson has played a lot of characters in her career. But it's this role that made her famous.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "EMPIRE")

TARAJI P HENSON: (As Cookie Lyon) I'm here to get what's mine.

MONTAGNE: That is, of course, Henson as Cookie Lyon, the matriarch of an ambitious, dysfunctional family on Fox's show "Empire." Now Henson has released a memoir² called "Around The Way Girl." She spoke³ with Karen Grigsby Bates from our Code Switch team about what it took to rise to the top in Hollywood.

KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, BYLINE⁴: Don't know what an around-the-way girl is? Let Taraji P. Henson break it down for you.

HENSON: Around the way is like saying from the hood⁵. And also, LL Cool J wrote a song called "Around the Girl."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AROUND THE WAY GIRL")

LL COOL J: (Rapping) I want a girl with extensions in her hair, bamboo earrings⁶ - at least two pair - a Fendi bag and a bad attitude.

BATES: Henson still proudly calls herself an around-the-way girl. She swears the fame, the money haven't changed her. It sounds like a movie cliche⁷. But Henson really did leave her Washington, D.C., hometown for Hollywood with little but the intention to succeed on her own terms.

HENSON: You know, I never went there with the expectation of failure. I never even thought about that. If anything, I knew I was going to make a dent⁸ in Hollywood. And no one could stop me.

BATES: Including people who had a pretty narrow idea of how a Hollywood star should look. Henson didn't care. She didn't want to be a size 00. Around the way, she says, curves are valued. Fair-skinned black actresses like Halle Berry may get nods now. But Henson says even they had to fight for parts.

HENSON: You know, God bless Halle Berry. Even though Hollywood loves her look, she had to create her own lane. There wasn't a lane for Halle Berry. And I had to create my own lane.

BATES: Sometimes, Henson lost jobs because producers couldn't see a black woman in the role. She had a bittersweet experience when she played Queenie in "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button." Brad Pitt starred as Benjamin, a man who aged⁹ in reverse. At the beginning of the movie, Queenie stumbles upon an ancient-looking foundling and takes him in.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON")

HENSON: (As Queenie) You are as ugly as an old pot. But you still a child of God.

BATES: Starring opposite Brad Pitt was a big deal. But in her book, Henson reveals she almost didn't take that job because the salary she was offered was insultingly low, about 2 percent of what the studio paid Pitt. And she even had to pay her own travel and lodging¹⁰. After raging to herself for days over the inequity, Henson listened to her inner voice. There was something to this Queenie.

HENSON: So, you know, I decided¹¹ to not push. I decided to swallow my pride and use it in the work. And that's what I did. And I think it paid off.

BATES: And how? Henson was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress. And that gave her the confidence to push back later. In 2012, she was given the script to a romantic comedy called "Think Like A Man."

HENSON: Talk about pushing and fighting - I was like, why would you make the most successful character in this cast Caucasian? Like, this woman is me (laughter). Highly successful and single - that is me. You know what I mean? Like, that's all of my girlfriends. So thank God they listened to me. See, that's the one time I pushed. But see, at this time in my career, I could. And they would listen.

BATES: They listened and changed the script. And today, Henson is the breakout star of TV's "Empire." Soon she may be celebrated¹² for another part. There were already Oscar whispers about her role as a NASA mathematician¹³ in the movie "Hidden Figures" out in January.

Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

6 earrings   

n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子

参考例句：

• a pair of earrings 一对耳环
• These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

8 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

9 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

10 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

13 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。