REUTERS

Taraji P. Henson. Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni.

While actresses such as Gabrielle Union and Vivica A Fox have immediately recognisable names and faces, Taraji Penda Henson doesn’t.

Frankly speaking, while her face may ring a bell, she isn’t instantly synonymous with any show, unless you have ardently followed her film career, which took root in 2000 with The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Although she has progressively bagged prominent movie roles, Henson’s TV career has been pretty unflattering with mostly cameo roles – until now.

Signed on to play Detective Carter, a tenacious NYPD cop and a former US Army interrogator, Henson is finally on the radar, more so with the crime drama, which also stars Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson, garnering a favourable reception.

Recalling her initial response when she was given the script, Henson says: “I read the script and felt, ‘Wow, this is something special’. I have only done that twice in my career and I’ve been doing this for more than a decade. I had that feeling when I read Hustle & Flow and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We read a lot of scripts (as actors), but I very rarely had that feeling. So then I get a call from Mr Jonathan Nolan (executive producer). Basically, he begged me.”

Of course, Henson was already sold on the role: “It was such a beautiful call. You know, you work hard in this business and when you have people who you look up to and whose work you admire, call and say: ‘I would love to write for you’, that’s a no-brainer.”

Elaborating on her character, Henson shares: “She served two years in Iraq. There are police officers who can be quite cynical – she’s more caring. She won’t crack the joke, but she gets a little more emotionally involved with some of the people she interacts with. And she’s chasing this guy – (whom) she’s identified as an ex-army person of some sort – in a suit.”

The Batman-esque twist is about a mysterious billionaire, Mr Finch (Emerson), who hires John Reese (Caviezel), a former Green Beret and CIA field officer who has fallen off the government radar, to help stop the crimes from taking place.

Finch has created a special computer program, which singles out a person who could be involved in crime – either as a participant or a victim – and he needs Reese’s skills to help prevent it.

Given the physical demands of the role, Henson ensured her body was toned to do justice to her character.

“I actually found this class in New York where we filmed the pilot,” she offers. “It’s called Physique 57. And it’s pretty intense, but it’s keeping me in shape.”

Nolan also shares their vision for Henson’s character.

“When you bring in an actor like Taraji, you’d better bring some great character moments and great turns, and we have a lot of work for all our characters,” he explains.

Adding to Henson’s quip about “not minding playing two steps behind”, he says: “I wouldn’t necessarily assume she was two steps behind. As much as I love the fact that this show has that somewhat tried and true case-of-the-week aspect to it, that allows us to play on the idea that New York is a city filled with millions of people and, therefore, millions of secrets. Each week we get a chance to look at one of those stories.”

• Person of Interest, M-Net Series (DStv, 110), Thursdays, 8.30pm.

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