Taraji P. Henson is one of the stars of Annie Live! airing Thursday, and she’s enjoying being cast in the role of Miss Hannigan, which was was portrayed by Carol Burnett in the 1982 Annie film.
“As a young, Black artist, studying in college all those years ago, and wanting to be, dreaming to be, I never saw myself as Miss Hannigan because back then, we weren’t into this nontraditional casting that we’re doing nowadays, which is so beautiful,” the 10-time NAACP Image Award winner tells Extra.
Annie Live!, which also stars Harry Connick Jr., Nicole Scherzinger and 13-year-old Celina Smith in the title role, airs Thursday, December 2 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC.
In other news, Kevin Hart is making it a merry holiday season by donating $100,000 each to youth organizations in Houston, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, and Springfield, Missouri for a total of $500,000.
“One of the best things you can do for yourself is believe in other people,” the True Story star said in a statement. “I’ve always had people in my life that believed in me, and I believe in the power of passing that onto others. The donations we made went to organizations that believe in the future of kids and their families. I’m proud we were able to work together to make a big impact.”
Finally, Issa Rae is dropping the soundtrack for the final season of Insecure on Friday, according to Variety. “Music has always been an essential part of every project I do and working with emerging talent is a personal passion,” Rae said. The 12-track album features Saweetie, Nnena, Thundercat and more.
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