Academy Award-nominated actress, producer, bestselling author, mental health advocate, and entrepreneur Taraji P. Henson has officially signed with Independent Artist Group (IAG) for representation. The agency will also handle Henson’s production company, TPH Entertainment, which has a first-look deal with BET.
Henson’s career has spanned decades, earning her critical acclaim across multiple industries. She has been nominated for an Oscar, won a Golden Globe, and secured six BET Awards. In addition, she has received multiple nominations for the Emmy, SAG, Critics’ Choice, and NAACP Image Awards.
Most recently, Henson starred in Fight Night, a limited series on Peacock. The show broke records, becoming the most-watched premiere in Peacock history and its #1 original drama. It also won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie), with Henson winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie).
Before Fight Night, Henson starred in the critically acclaimed musical adaptation of The Color Purple, which earned her an NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild ensemble nomination. Henson’s next major project is Straw, a new film directed by Tyler Perry for Netflix. Additionally, she will appear in Apple TV+’s two-part documentary Number One on the Call Sheet, which celebrates Black actors in Hollywood, and CNN’s travel series My Happy Place.
IAG will work closely with Henson and Jamila Jordan-Theus, Head of Development and Production at TPH Entertainment, to expand the production company. TPH has several projects in development that aim to “bring bold, authentic, and diverse voices to the forefront,” as Henson stated in a 2023 interview with Variety.
For IAG CEO Jim Osborne, this partnership follows recent success in signing Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions to the agency.
Henson’s rise to fame began with her breakout role in 2005’s Hustle & Flow, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild nomination and a BET Award for Best Actress. Her other notable film credits include Hidden Figures, Acrimony, Proud Mary, Think Like a Man and its sequel, Smokin’ Aces, No Good Deed, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
On television, Henson has garnered multiple Primetime Emmy nominations, most recently for her guest role on Abbott Elementary. She also won a Golden Globe Award and received numerous Emmy nominations for her role as “Cookie Lyon” on the hit series Empire, becoming the first Black woman to win a Critics Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.
Henson’s efforts in the world of theater were recognized with a Tony nomination for her production of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding in 2024. In June 2024, she released her #1 New York Times bestselling children’s book, You Can Be a Good Friend (No Matter What!), which also won an NAACP Image Award. She had previously published her memoir, Around the Way Girl, in 2016.
In 2018, Henson launched the Boris L. Henson Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving access to mental health services within Black communities and reducing the stigma surrounding mental health care. She also founded TPH by Taraji in 2020, an inclusive, spa-inspired brand of products. Further expanding her business portfolio, Henson joined Seven Daughters Moscato as a strategic advisor and creative collaborator in 2024.
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