Taraji P. Henson is thrilled to be Emmy-nominated for a comedy for once: 'I came out here to be a funny girl'
With her latest Emmy nomination, Taraji P. Henson is getting the last laugh.
Henson came to Hollywood with dreams of being a comedic actress, but after booking the 2001 film Baby Boy early in her career, she found herself routinely cast in dramas — earning an Oscar nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Emmy nods for Empire.
But now Henson's comedic talents are being recognized with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work as Janine's mother, Vanetta, on the hit ABC series Abbott Elementary, and it's the last thing she ever anticipated.
"I literally didn't expect anything," Henson tells EW of taking on the part. "I just wanted to go and be funny and have fun on that show. I love Abbott. I'm such a huge fan of the show and of [creator] Quinta Brunson. I'm very proud of her and what she's been able to accomplish."
The idea of Henson playing Brunson's mom on the show first came about when Henson and Brunson were competing on Jimmy Fallon's That's My Jam ("I won, that's not important here," Henson quips). Backstage, Henson told Brunson that she'd love to come on Abbott if the occasion ever presented itself.
"She's like, 'No, in order to have someone like you, we have to wait until the show gets bigger,'" Henson recalls. "I said, 'What are you talking about? 'Cause it's pretty massive right now.' Sure enough, like a month later she called. I just wanted to be part of her greatness, because the show is really good and I love to laugh."
For Henson, it was an opportunity to have fun doing what she originally imagined when she started out in show business. "I came out here almost 30 years ago thinking that I was going to land a hit sitcom," she says. "I came out here to be a funny girl, and then I booked Baby Boy and it was drama after drama after drama. So I'm just grateful to be seen as the comedic actress that I came out here to be. I'm like, 'God, they finally see me.'"
Henson quite literally did not expect the nomination, as she forgot Emmy noms were even being announced Wednesday. "My agent called, and I know he's an early riser, but we had talked the other day so I was like, 'Why is he calling me again?'" she says with a laugh. "I was so busy watching what's going on with the [writers'] strike, I forgot all about the nominations. He was like, 'Congratulations on your Emmy nod.' And I was like, 'Huh? Oh yeah, duh. It's that time of the year.'"
With a potential SAG-AFTRA strike looming as well, Henson calls the nomination "a light in the tunnel."
She praises Brunson and the writing staff for how fully formed Vanetta was on the page — though Henson did bring some opinions to the wardrobe department. "They didn't want me to be have a lot of print because Janine wears a lot of print," Henson explains. "I said, 'Well, who do you think she gets it from?' I was like, 'This woman is full of life and color, and she's still in the club. She's wearing everything the young girls are wearing.' That's when we got that colorful outfit that I wore. But it just made sense. She still goes to the clubs, she's still dancing on tables."
Vanetta also sports distinctive nails, which Henson says were created by Tamika, the artist who does rapper Saweetie's nails. "I said, 'If we're going to do nails, we have to do nails.'"
Speaking to EW on Wednesday morning, before catching up with Brunson, Henson says the Abbott creator had already been anticipating Henson's Emmy nomination. Brunson told her as much when the two were together at Essence Fest a few weeks ago: "She looked over at me and she's like, 'Can you believe you're about to get an Emmy nod from doing your role on the show?' And I was like, 'I really can't believe it because I was just coming on there to have fun.'"
"That's the moral of the story," Henson adds. "Just have fun, and the other stuff will come."
The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards are currently set to air Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Fox.
Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best films, TV, and music.
Related content:
The ABC comedy follows a group of hardworking teachers at an underfunded Philadelphia school.
| type |
|
| rating | |
| genre | |
| creator | |
| network | |