From starring in Tyler Perry's 'I Can Do Bad All By Myself' to playing a detective opposite Steve Carell and Tina Fey in 'Date Night,' Oscar nominated actress Taraji P. Henson always brings in her 'A' game to whatever role she plays, leading or supportive.

Coming up next for the Washington, D.C. native is playing the mother to Jaden Smith's character in the remake of the popular '80s film, 'The Karate Kid.'

Co-produced by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Henson got to travel to Beijing, China for the filming of this martial arts genre flick.

Work causes a single mother (played by Henson) to move to China with her young son Dre (played by Smith). In his new home, the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master (played by Jackie Chan) when school bullies force him to defend himself.

Black Voices caught up with Henson as she talks about the film, her upcoming projects, and the recent cover on last month's Essence magazine.

What was the attraction to doing a remake of a film most people are familiar with?

Taraji P. Henson: Well, first of all, I have to be attracted to the material, and the script is really well done. I'm such a fan of the original 'Karate Kid.' Saw a lot of myself and my son in the script. It reminded me of when I packed up and moved to LA with my son. LA is 3000 miles from DC. LA was like my China, I'd never been to California, me venturing off to the unknown. The story was incredible, to go to another country on someone else's dime and work, do what you love to do, that was also attractive to me. Plus, I think 'Karate Kid' hit home for so many. You'd be surprised how many of these new generation kids have been able to find and fall in love with 'Karate Kid.' With the technology age and the internet you can find anything. ALL KIDS are fascinated by martial arts. So we have that audience, and also the parents who know the original 'Karate Kid.'

What was the back-story of your character? We never got a sense of her day job.

TPH: They're from Detroit and that's the big automobile industry. Art imitates life, and automobiles took a big hit in this recession. She lost her job and got an offer to work overseas in China to wok in a car factory. She had no choice.

Were you able to enjoy the city while you were filming out there?

TPH: Sure, I was playing a mom so I wasn't working everyday. I had a lot of downtime, probably more than I needed 'cause I started getting a little crazy. It was fun! I had my son and my mom out there for three weeks. I got to go to the Great Wall, forbidden city, temple of heaven, everything there is to see. I even got to venture off and go to Shanghai!

How was it working with Jaden?

TPH: He's a superstar, no way around it. He's an incredible young man. What I like about him is he's not ahead of his time, he's still a kid.

With Will and Jada Pinkett Smith out there as executive producers, were you able to talk to them about working with Jaden?

TPH: The thing they did was to create a very comfortable, easy, free environment for me and Jaden to connect. They let us do our own thing. We had enough time in rehearsals to get familiar with each other.

What is it about this story that is going to connect with people?

TPH: It's a fish-out-of-water story. Little kid coming of age story, to stand up for yourself, the bully... it's always good when the underdog wins! I'm always rooting for the underdog anyway in my personal life.

How many films with Jackie Chan had you seen before working with him?

TPH: I saw all the 'Rush Hour' films. I even saw some films I didn't know Jackie Chan was in until when we got there I started talking he was like, "Yeah, I was in that film." It was interesting. I didn't know who Jackie Chan was until 'Rush Hour.'

What else is coming up? You have 'Larry Crowne' down the road?

TPH: That's it right now. I have things in the works but nothing's etched in stone just yet.

What's your role in 'Crowne?'

TPH: I play Cedric the Entertainer's wife. We live next door to Tom Hanks. It's a comedy so I get to be funny, thank God.

It's good you get to go back-and-forth between drama and comedy. Are you getting a lot of good scripts, leading or supportive?

TPH: Yeah. It's hard to get a movie greenlit with a female black lead. I'm not easy to turn away, I love a good challenge. At every level of your career you have to prove yourself. So now it's the whole, "I've got to prove that I can open a film." It'll happen.

Is 'Baggage Claim' still happening?

TPH: We're looking for somewhere else to do it. The studio (Fox Searchlight) we were with pulled the plug. People get nervous when one black movie doesn't do the numbers they want them to, which is very frustrating. With the other movies they don't do that. They just keep making them until they get a hit! One black movie does bad, it's like all black movies are going to do bad! (laughs) We'll make it happen somewhere else, I'm not worried.

Are you in a position where you can help get an independent film off the ground?

TPH: We're seeing that now, we're trying. There's another film I'm trying to get set up at another studio, I have my own film I'm trying to do. Everything in life is challenging.

In the midst of filming and traveling and being a mom as well, what keeps you grounded?

TPH: My son and my family and my friends. Very consistent with the people I have around me.

What's the summer looking like for you these days?

TPH: I really didn't have anything set up for this summer because I've been working non-stop since 'Benjamin Button.' Today I sat around, and thought "Oh my God, I need a job!" but then thought there's a reason I'm supposed to be still right now, so that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to take a vacation.

How did you like being on the cover of Essence? Obviously that's a big profile.

TPH: That's HUGE. I grew up reading Essence magazines, those were the images I could identify with, that's every black girl's dream to be on the cover of Essence! I can scratch that off my bucket list. (laughs)