Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis and Other A-List Actresses Talk Race, Sexism, Nudity, Aging in Hollywood
Six award-winning actresses, Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Lizzy Caplan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Lange and Ruth Wilson
– are seated at The Hollywood Reporter’s Roundtable and they talk about
everything they have had to face as women, as aging actresses, as women
of colour, as not-so-skinny women and more through their journey in
Hollywood.
Read excerpts below.
Taraji P. Henson
On Cookie Lyon becoming Iconic:
I hate that b*. She’s stolen my identity! (Laughter.) My friends don’t
want to talk to me unless it’s about Cookie. Cookie scared the hell out
of me. Just before I got the role, I’d said, “F— it all, I’m going back
to theater.” I felt lazy and like I needed to sharpen the tools. So I
did theater at The Pasadena Playhouse. Then my manager said,“You have to
read this script.” I’m like, “Hip-hop? Oh my God, what are they trying
to do? Fox is going to pick this up? This isn’t HBO?” And then I got
nervous and started pacing the floor. “Oh my God, Cookie is bigger than
life. You will love her or hate her.” Empire has forced people to have
conversa – tions that they were afraid to have. And that is what art is
supposed to do. I just didn’t know it was going to shake things up this
much! (Laughs.)
On improvising with Cookie lines:
A lot of people think those came from a woman I know, but actually
Cookie is based on my dad. You either loved him or you hated him because
he was always speaking truth. The one line I said in the show about
someone’s hair smell – ing like “goat ass” was his. Once I didn’t wash
my hair for two weeks because it kept the curl better when it was dirty.
We were on a public bus, and he grabbed my head and asked, “Why does
your head smell like goat ass?” in front of everybody. I learned the
lesson. I washed my hair. Thanks, Dad. See, everything happens in life
for a reason.
On considering quitting acting:
High school was the only time I ever can remember [thinking about]
quitting. I auditioned for Duke Ellington School of the Arts in
Washington, D.C., and didn’t get accepted. At that age, their word was
law. It meant I couldn’t act! So I went to college to be an electrical
engineer. I don’t know why I did that — I still count on my fingers, and
I failed calculus with flying colors. But then I rerouted my life —
enrolled at Howard University, took up theater and studied the craft. I
felt like I was armored enough to come out to Hollywood. And I knew that
I would get told “no” a million times.
Viola Davis
On playing the sexy Annalise Keating:
There was absolutely no precedent for it. I had never seen a
49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualized role
in TV or film. I’m a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever
identified me as a sexualized woman. I was the prototype of the
“mommified” role. Then all of a sudden, this part came, and fear would
be an understatement. When I saw myself for the first time in the pilot
episode, I was mortified. I saw the fake eyelashes and, “Are you kidding
me? Who is going to believe this?” And then I thought: “OK, this is
your moment to not typecast yourself, to play a woman who is sexualized
and do your investigative work to find out who this woman is and put a
real woman on TV who’s smack-dab in the midst of this pop fiction.
On nudity in Hollywood:
It’s courageous because even when you see sex scenes in the theater,
it’s like, “OK, she’s been to the gym four times today.” I refuse to
drink a smoothie for breakfast to get down to a size 2. It’s just not
going to happen with me. I’ve done a couple of sex scenes in How to Get
Away With Murder, even one where was I thrown up against the wall, and
I’m like, “I really don’t want to get thrown up against the wall
anymore.” I threw my back out! (Laughter.) I had to just allow myself to
be uncomfortable. I’m not going to stand in front of a mirror, or else
Viola will kick in and go, “OK, my titties are saggy and I have stretch
marks.
On considering quitting acting:
I felt that way before I even started. I didn’t know how to get into
the business. The only thing I had was a desire, and people thought I
had talent. But then what? How do you get a job? How do you audi – tion?
I didn’t come from people who could pay my bills. So I dove in. When
your passion and drive are bigger than your fears, you just dive. I’ve
been on my last.
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