My Publicist Note Book

Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson will finally be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame later this month, according to reports. The actress who has blessed us with some of our favorite roles in movies and TV shows, like  Hidden Figures  and  Empire , is finally being recognized for her contributions on January 28. She will be joined at the ceremony by the likes of  Baby Bo y director John Singleton and singer-actress Mary J.Blige. The  Empire  actress made her screen debut back in 1997 with a cameo appearance on  Sister, Sister . But it would be another four years before her breakthrough performance in Singleton’s  Baby Boy . An Oscar nomination arose in 2008 for her performance in  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , but she still didn’t become a household name in most American homes until she took on the role as Cookie Lyon in  Empire . “Taraji P Henson is a powerful woman and a powerful actress....

Save P ho “Hidden Figures” takes us back to 1961, when racial segregation and workplace sexism were widely accepted facts of life and the word “computer” referred to a person, not a machine. Though a gigantic IBM mainframe does appear in the movie — big enough to fill a room and probably less powerful than the phone in your pocket — the most important computers are three African-American women who work at NASA headquarters in Hampton, Va. Assigned to data entry jobs and denied recognition or promotion, they would go on to play crucial roles in the American space program.  Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book of the same title, the film, directed by Theodore Melfi (who wrote the script with Allison Schroeder), turns the entwined careers of Katherine Goble (later Johnson), Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan into a rousing celebration of merit rewarded and perseverance repaid. Like many movies about the overcoming of racism, it offers belated acknowledgme...

Uncovering a Tale of Rocket Science, Race and the ’60s Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer star in “Hidden Figures,” a largely untold story of African-American mathematicians in the space program. “This is a female-driven movie about contributions that women really made,” Spencer told The New York Times about the 2017 film focusing on four black female NASA mathematicians in the 1960s. When "Hidden Figures" hits the big screen next January, audiences across the nation will see the true story of the African American women mathematicians who were behind one of NASA's first successful space missions. Henson stars as Katherine Johnson, Monáe as Mary Jackson, and Spencer as Dorothy  Vaughan. "This is a female-driven movie about contributions that women really made, to our world, not just our society. That’s a big statement.”- Octavia Spencer Taraji, Janelle, and Octavia, thank you for using your platform and talent to bring an important sto...

Star studded Elle women in TV   Elle's magazine's cover is star studded with 5 celebrities. The February issue features women in TV namely, Taraji P. Henson, Bollywood actress and the winner of the Miss World pageant of 2000 Pryanka Chopra, Olivia Wilde, Viola Davis and Julia Louis Dreyfus.

With its flashy mix of music and melodrama, Fox's Empire ruled the ratings this spring — and topped itself, week after week...  Taraji P. Henson knew everybody would be buzzing about her someday. Her father had a premonition. It was 2006, and Boris Henson was nearing the end of an ill-fated battle with cancer. Soon his actress-daughter would not only be attending the Academy Awards but performing that year's Best Original Song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," from her film   Hustle & Flow , which costarred Terrence Howard. As she sat at her father's hospital bedside, filling him in on the major career milestone she was about to reach — one he wouldn't live to see — "He was like, 'Baby, that ain't nothin'. You are going to be a sensation,'" the  Empire  star recounts now. "He was looking off into the distance, and I think he saw what was coming. "At the time, I was like, 'What you see? Shoot, I wan...

“Go big or go home” could easily be the motto of Empire! William Shakespeare. Sean “Puffy” Combs. Alexis Carrington. This pop culture threesome doesn’t usually come up in conversation—unless you’re talking to the creators of Fox’s new drama Empire . Writer Danny Strong began brainstorming a movie about a hip-hop mogul and his family. “The whole idea just flooded through my head: ‘I miss Dynasty and I would love to see a black Dynasty,’ ” Daniels recalls of the Joan Collins-led prime-time soap. But Empire is more than just big hair, sequined gowns, and catfights—it’s one of the most ambitious new dramas of 2015. In the first episode, Lucious Lyon (Oscar nominee Terrence Howard), a rapper–turned–music mogul, is diagnosed with ALS and given three years to live. He must choose one of his three sons—hardworking Andre (Trai Byers), artistic Jamal (Jussie Smollett), or immature Hakeem (Bryshere Gray)—to take over the family business. But Lucious also has to deal with the return of...

"The Minority Report" host becomes the latest black lead on the small screen, joining a rapidly growing roster of talent on newly ordered  prime time  series. Comedy Central's Friday announcement that  Larry Wilmore  would take over the time slot previously occupied by  Stephen Colbert  with his new  Minority Report  caps a major week for black leads on the small screen. STORY: Early Trends Emerge as Broadcasters Bet on Black Leads, Politics, Terror  The Daily Show  correspondent, who will launch his new series in the 11:30 p.m. slot starting in January, joins a rapidly growing roster of black leads on newly ordered prime-time broadcast scripted series. The emergence of black leads was one of the earliest trends to emerge from the wave of broadcast network pickups this week.  ABC on Thursday ordered  Anthony Anderson  comedy   Black-ish   to series.  That ...