Taraji Penda Henson (* 11.September 1972) is an American actress and singer.
She is best known for her role as pregnant prostitute Shug in Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow (2005).

Henson was born in Washington, DC, and attended Oxon Hill High School in Oxon Hill, MD. Henson's first and middle names are of Arabic origin, meaning "hope". She is a descendant of Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North Pole[1].

She first attended NC A&T where she attempted to study Electrical Engineering. She failed Pre-Calculus so she transferred to Howard University.
Henson worked two jobs --in the morning as a secretary at the Pentagon; and in the night as a singing and dancing waitress on a dinner cruise ship-- to pay for Howard University. She graduated with a degree in Theater Arts. Her son Marcel was born in 1995; his father died unexpectedly in 1997. Her father died in 2007.

She has appeared in the films Baby Boy (2001), "Hairshow" (2004), Hustle & Flow (2005), Four Brothers (2005), and Talk to Me, and was a cast member on Lifetime Television's The Division.

Henson made her singing debut in Hustle & Flow; she provided the vocals for the Three 6 Mafia track "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp". The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2006, giving Three 6 the distinction of becoming the first Black hip-hop act to win in the category. Henson performed the song at the Oscars on March 5, 2006 with the group.

Henson was in the music video Testify in 2005 as the wife of a soon to be convicted murderer, but she was the one who really committed the crime. Throughout the video she keeps pleading "Please let me testify" but no one had let her.

She is currently playing attorney Whitney Rome on ABC's Boston Legal.