Actress Taraji P. Henson earned her first Oscar® nod on Thursday, for her role as Brad Pitt’s adoptive mother in the critically acclaimed fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Henson has carved a niche in Hollywood playing sassy girl next door in films like Baby Boy, and a gun-toting assassin in Smokin’ Aces; but the role of “Queenie” was a marked departure for the actress. Starring in a period piece about a man who ages backwards, Henson’s performance has been earning rave reviews throughout the industry for months, with many publications predicting a nomination for the 37-year-old Washington, D.C., native.
Also garnering a nomination was veteran actress Viola Davis, who stars in the acclaimed drama Doubt as Mrs. Miller, a woman whose son may be the victim of abuse at the hands of his priest. Davis has appeared in other critically acclaimed films, including 2000s Traffic and Solaris. In 2004, she told American Theatre magazine:
“When I graduated from Juilliard, I remember thinking that there was no difference between me and any other student in the school; I wanted to do what they were doing. I want to do what Meryl Streep is doing … [When] you see black movies, they’re always urban and funny, with pretty much the same actors, which is not a bad thing. The travesty is when you’re not that. I don’t speak Ebonics. I’m too old to be a home girl. I’m not funny like that — sitcom, WB-UPN funny. So if I’m not that, then sometimes to the acting community you can be considered nothing, as opposed to being a wide range of things.”
Oscar® nods are not new territory for African American actors, but winning the gold statue doesn’t always guarantee an illustrious career afterward. This is especially true for black actors — here are a few notable Oscar® winners and how their careers panned out after the big night. –todd williams
Hattie McDaniel
The first African American to win an Academy Award, McDaniel will always be remembered for her role as Mammy in the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind. Each generation of black actors owes a debt to the versatile actress.
BEFORE: McDaniel was an accomplished songwriter, singer, and radio actress throughout her career. She made the leap to films and appeared in The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple and Judge Priest with Will Rogers before …Wind.
AFTER: McDaniel was pigeonholed—as were many black actors of the 30s and 40s—into subservient roles. Despite growing criticism from the NAACP, she played a maid in several more films and became the first African American sitcom star on ABC’s “Beulah,” playing a housekeeper.
