Taraji P. Henson has never acted.
Taraji Penda Henson ( [ tə ` rɑːdʒi ] ; born September 11 , 1970 ) is an American actress and author . She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest-roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy ( 2001 ) . Henson went on to star in the ensemble film Think Like a Man ( 2012 ) and its 2014 sequel . In 2015 , she began starring as Cookie Lyon on the Fox drama series Empire , for which she became the first African-American woman to win a Critics ' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series . Also that year , she received praise for her starring role as Katherine Johnson in the critically acclaimed drama film Hidden Figures , for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture .