Drama Queen

"Honest to goodness, she made a whole play going across the stage," Malone says, laughing at the memory. "She dropped the clothes, ran into someone, etc. You couldn't pay attention to anyone else except for Taraji. And it was really funny.

"That was emblematic of Taraji. Whenever I think of her, I think of that."

She encountered plenty of drama offstage, too. As a student, she got involved in an abusive relationship -- she won't say with whom -- and found herself being knocked around the house. Perhaps it was her zeal for commitment, for diving in body and soul, that got her into trouble.

"You fall in love and you just want it to work," Henson says. "I saw past his demons, I saw his good in him. . . . I fell in love with potential."

She pauses, laughs ruefully. "And got beat up for it."

She says she realized she was setting a poor example for her young son. So after graduation, she grabbed her baby and stepped . Headed to Los Angeles in 1996 with just $700 to her name.

First, she nailed down an office job to pay the bills. Assured her employer that she wouldn't be staying long. Her boss, who'd seen many a would-be actor come and go, looked amused. But within two years, Henson was out of there, having snared guest parts in television shows like "Felicity" and "ER" and a "Murder She Wrote" movie, then starring in Lifetime's "The Division" for three seasons. "Baby Boy" was her first movie break.

She was working full time and had a manager, Vincent Cirrincione, the man behind Halle Berry's Oscar-winning career.

"She's the epitome of a strong person," co-star Howard says. "She's trying to raise this child by herself and get a career in Hollywood. . . . Most people would throw their kids at their mom to raise. . . . She's like, 'No, I'm going to conquer Hollywood and I'm going to do it on my own.' A lot of girls get by with flirting or sleeping with people. Nobody gets near Taraji. . . . She has so much integrity as a young black woman."

For the role of Shug, writer-director Craig Brewer was looking for a singer who could convey the character's sweetness and innocence without taking it over the top. Henson wasn't the immediate choice. For one thing, her work on "The Division" was in conflict with the film's tight schedule. She offered to work weekends, flying into Memphis on the red eye. (Fortunately, he says, it took a long time for them to find financing. By that time, everyone's schedules were in sync.)

Before shooting, Brewer and Henson rode through the streets of Memphis, deep in the 'hood. There, they encountered working girls.

"She started talking to girls," Brewer says. "I would hear Taraji's accent begin to change. . . . She'd start talking hair, 'Ooh, where'd you get your hair done? Where'd you get that gold tooth?' Suddenly Taraji would arrive on the set, and she'd have a completely realized character with little input from me.