Source: Photo by: Fernando Decillis / Peacock
Taraji P. Henson pours herself into every role she plays. Whether it’s a brilliant mathematician, a hitwoman, or a former stripper named Sweets, Taraji’s ability to draw us her audience, is unmatched. Taraji is a beloved Black actress and we regard her as such.
The Academy Award-nominated actress stars in Kevin Hart’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist as his ambitious and business-savvy bottom b*tch. She is the beauty and brains behind the operation, as Black women often are. But after their big party gets robbed, she finds herself fighting to prove her innocence to notorious gangsters.
Fight Night assembles the biggest names in Black Hollywood, everyone from Taraji, Kevin Hart, Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson to Chloe Bailey, Lori Harvey, and even David Banner have major roles in the series based on the true crime story based on Jeff Keating’s true crime podcast on iHeartRadio. Taraji’s character Vivian Thomas is a former pole dancer. She opened up about a steamy scene on the show that required her to do a strip tease in front of her costars.
Taraji P. Henson: Fight Night
Taraji revealed it was embarrassing to do such an intimate scene while her peers were watching, especially Sam. “I’m all embarrassed,” Henson said in an exclusive interview with HelloBeautiful. “He’s like my dad. I just had to black out and get through it. But that was, for me, the most difficult thing for me to do because of what I had to do in front of my peers.”
Thankfully, stripping in the 70s was very different than it is now. “I had to really get into the difference between strip pole dancing today and what it was back then,” she explained to HB. “That genre of dance has evolved, back then it was more, of a tease than let me show you everything. So once I got that, I was like, oh, okay, I can do this. It wasn’t so scary. But it was hard because I’m in the room with all my peers and they’re all guys. Like, I know all these dudes.”
Source: Photo by: Fernando Decillis / Peacock
Taraji P. Henson laughs when I ask, ‘Who cut up the most on set? ‘Kevin Hart. Who you think?!’ she responds candidly.
Despite playing a serious character, Chicken Man, on screen, Kevin Hart kept the cast laughing behind the scenes. According to Taraji, when the cameras stopped rolling, Kevin (who is also the executive producer of the project), would be begging Sam Jackson to sit down with him on his Hart to Heart interview show.
“What was funny was Kevin was trying to get Sam to do his talk show, Hart to Heart. “Oh my God. He was literally tap dancing for this man. He was begging him every day. And I was just there for the show. I was intrigued because Sam was like, ‘I’m not gonna be a part of the Hart Rodeo show.’
That speaks to the ensemble cast’s chemistry. In our August cover story, Chloe Bailey opened up about the great advice Taraji P. Henson gave her while filming. The seasoned actress had great things to say about her as well.
“Chloe, she’s such a sweet baby,” she said reminding me they worked together on her show Peace Of Mind With Taraji. “We had already known each other. But anytime I’m around any young thespian, I’m going to put them up on game. You know what I mean? And make them understand the industry a little bit and just be accessible for them to ask questions, you know?”
That authenticity is why we love everyone loves Taraji. She’s flattered when I say that, but she isn’t naive enough to think everyone loves her, she says.
Source: Photo by: Fernando Decillis / Peacock
“I’m sure everybody don’t love me, that’s for sure. But the majority, I’m grateful. I think it’s because of how much I love us. I never turn my back on the hood. I’m never gonna forget about us. When I say the hood, I’m talking about that too. That aspect of blackness as well. Not that we’re all hood. I’m just saying that aspect of blackness, like I’ve never shunned it. I’ve never ran away from where I come from. I don’t care how big I get. I do it for us. I do it for the people. I do it for the culture. And the culture knows what’s real. Real recognized real.” I never run away from us. That’s why you gonna always find me in a Tyler Perry movie. You gonna always find me on a BET something.”
Taraji and Kevin’s on-screen romance is a main storyline in Fight Night. We get to see Kevin Hart in a different light. “I always told him and urged him to go into drama. I knew he would eventually, but I always told him he would do really well. I’m very proud of him.”
Catch Fight Night on Peacock every Thursday.
RELATED CONTENT: Faizon Love Questions Taraji P. Henson’s Movie Roles And Pay
