Taraji Henson has earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress opposite Brad Pitt in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Taraji is also a 2011 Emmy nominee for Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for Lifetime's Taken From Me. For her role in Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, she received the 2009 Diversity Award for Best Actress. She was named Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Feature Film by the Black Movie Awards and received the BET Best Actress nod for her performance in Hustle & Flow. Taraji currently stars as Detective Joss Carter in Person of Interest for CBS and stars in two films released in 2012, From the Rough and Think Like a Man.

Henson has guest-starred on several television shows, such as the WB Television Network's Smart Guy,playing the role of Monique (1997–98); the Fox series House in 2005; and CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2006.

Henson has also been a cast member on several television shows, including Lifetime Television's The Division and ABC's Boston Legal for one season. Her recurring appearances in television include the character Angela Scott on ABC's Eli Stone in December 2008. In 2011, Henson was cast in the CBS crime-suspense series Person of Interest. In the Person of Interest November 20, 2013 episode "The Crossing", after co-starring for two and a half years, Henson's character Carter was killed as part of the series' new storyline direction.

In February 2014, several months after her last episode of Person of Interest aired on CBS, Henson was hired by Fox to star in the new TV series pilot Empire, a musical drama set in the hip hop recording industry. Henson plays Cookie Lyon opposite former costar Terrence Howard. Fox ordered the pilot to series in May 2014 and the TV series debuted on January 7, 2015 with positive reviews from critics.

Taraji P. Henderson credits her good fortune to having faith in herself, and as a speaker, this is her resounding theme. Her audiences aren't just starstruck, they are inspired by the person. And Taraji's keynotes motivate people to find that inspiration inside themselves.