Taraji P. Henson is one of the great actresses of our time.

The Academy Award nominee got a first break, playing the role of Yvette in the John Singleton film Baby Boy. She has since played in movies such as Hustle & Flow, Talk to Me, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opposite Brad Pitt for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Think Like a Man and Think Like a Man Too, Hidden Fugures, and Proud Mary. That’s to say nothing of her role as Cookie on Empire.

After nine years of making requests, BOXTOROW finally had a chance to catch up with the Washington, DC native and talked with her about her career, time at North Carolina A&T State University and Howard University and meeting Anthony Anderson at Howard, about the sucess of Empire internationally, about the role in her newest film Best of Enemies and about her favorite team, the Washington Redskins and rooting for the hometown teams.