Taraji P. Henson has been cast to play Katherine Johnson in a Fox 2000 film entitled Hidden Figures, according to Variety.

The film will be based on a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly entited “Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race,” published by HarperCollins. Katherine Johnson was a mathematical genius that worked for NASA alongside Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson as they helped send John Glenn into space to be the first American to orbit the earth.

Henson recently won a Golden Globe for her work on the hit show Empire. Ironically, she started off her acceptance speech taking what could be viewed as a subtle jab at black actors and actresses only being awarded when they live up to stereotypes.

“Who knew that playing an ex-convict would take me all around the globe?,” Henson said while accepting the award. “I thought it would be Queenie. Will, I thought it would be my character from Karate Kid. But it’s Cookie, who spent 17 years in jail for selling crack! Okay! So the world loves real….”

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