Is there anyone out there with a beating heart who doesn’t like Taraji P. Henson? Wherever you stand on “Benjamin Button,” it’s hard not to be happy for her. A humble, hard-working character actress who has soldiered through a lot of films well beneath her abilities, she has finally made good on that stunning “Hustle and Flow” promise and is inching her way onto the A-list.
She probably isn’t going to be heading to the podium on Oscar night, but Henson is the kind of actor for whom a mere nomination can make a world of difference. Moreover, it’s her positivity and humility in interviews like this that is doubtless winning her a lot of fans this awards season:
“It’s an incredible time to be alive. And it’s definitely an incredible time to be Taraji P. Henson. I’m blown away,” she said. “I have moments where I’ll call my publicist and be like ‘Is this all really happening? Are you sure they’re not going to call back and say we made a mistake?’”
Endearingly, she’s apparently as excited by Barack Obama’s inauguration as she is by the prospect of meeting her idol, Meryl Streep, at tomorrow’s SAG Awards. Good for her, I say. (On another note, can she really be 38 years of age? Who’d’a thunk it?)