Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/831804
34 as Missy has. Sometimes he won't want to wear any make-up and I would say, "well, OK, go on then with your bad self!" and Missy will say, "Terrence, your eyes are looking a little puffy … don't be like that" and he'll come back and say, "BJ give me the patches … and make me camera-ready." He's a big teddy bear. They're all like my kids. I'm their Mama BJ. I just love them. I have known most of them for a very long time and the ones I just met I feel like I've known for a long time as well. We work 18-20 hours a day. We go in with all our energy and we are ready to work. I'm so humbled and grateful to be able to make a living doing something I love. I raised my kids doing two or three jobs at any given time. Taraji has taken you both on a few movies, tell me about her? Missy: We met her during hurricane Katrina. She played Forest Whitaker's wife on a basketball movie. Then Bev Jo did Think Like a Man and I did the sequel, Think Like a Man Too, so she knew us when we came to Empire. Bev Jo: I did a few other films before with her as well. I started the show taking care of her and now I have one of my keys dedicated to her so I can run the department and concentrate on Terrence. So you guys have known each other a long time… Missy and Bev Jo: Mmmhhhmmm!!! Missy: I met BJ years ago on a movie called Beautiful, which got me into Local 706. All of a sudden, we ended up working on a lot of stuff together but this is the first project we have been together as a team. It's been so amazing and calming to have her. Bev Jo: We make a good team! She calms me too … It's a great balance. (They both giggle.) How did you get in the union? Bev Jo: It took me 10 years to get in the union. I was the commercial queen in Chicago. I did all the Burrell advertis- ing, Amtrak, Michael Jordan, Coca-Cola and McDonald's ads. I also worked for the airlines. I would go back-and-forth to LA. I tried to get on with different agencies like Cloutier and my résumé just wasn't good enough for them at the time. One thing led to another. I kept working on commer- cial after commercial. I finally had enough days that qualified me for the 60/60/60 days over a three-year period of time. One day I got a letter from Contract Services and Local 706 congratulating me. I was so excited, I screamed. Ten years was a long haul and I made it! Cindy Reese gave me my first break to the film world which is how I got Mo' Money. Now Missy and I are both represented by Susan Wright at the Criterion Group Agency. Above: Taraji P. Henson as Cookie. Right from top: Serayah McNeill as Tiana Brown; Kaitlin Doubleday (left) as Rhonda Lyon and Grace Byers as Anika Calhoun.