Mahershala Ali Refused Sex Scene With Taraji Henson For Religious Reasons

Could you say no to Taraji P. Henson?

Source: Brian To / Sheri Determan / WENN

Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali did an interview with Common tied to Common’s new original podcast Mind Power Mixtape, which debuts today Thursday, November 19 exclusively on Audible. During the intimate and candid conversation, Ali discusses setting boundaries for himself in his work in and details what he’s not willing to portray on screen and also discusses how to be present for loved ones. Check out the clip below to hear Mahershala tell Common about the time he won a role and accepted it on the condition he wouldn’t have to do a sex scene.

Source: Courtesy Audible / Audible

Mahershala also discussed his connection with his dad and revealed how he got into acting.

“We were kind of like an odd couple. I’m like six two, he was like five nine, I could tell you anything about sports in a period of my life. He wasn’t really into sports he was like, you know, music, art, and all that, so I was always looking for these ways in which we connected, but as much as we were like sort of an odd couple we were like best friends when he passed away. And so the things that spoke to him, or anything that resonated with him, if there was like some overlapping there, I would get excited about any of those things, so I slipped into acting from basically writing poetry. And I started early on in the early 90s, there was all these like poetry slams and readings and all that, so I started like as a kid in high school. I was dealing with insomnia…so I would be up the entire night, and then go about my whole day and like maybe sleep an hour or two or be up for like 48 hours and then sleep that next night, so I was just writing all the time. And I started performing when my father was ill. I started when I went out to New York. I would do these little pieces for him, like perform them for him and that really made him excited, and then so his friends and whatnot I would perform for them as well. And so I think that was the first time where I kind of discovered this sort of overlapping where like, he and I both were connecting on something that felt true and real for both of us and so he passed away before I really started.”

We love these clips. We’re definitely excited to check out the full interview.

Here’s more about Mind Power Mixtape with Common

In his new podcast, “The Mind Power Mixtape,” Oscar, Emmy and Grammy-winning rapper Common conducts a series of illuminating and exciting conversations with an amazing group of artists, to explore the secrets of life, love, art and faith. Each conversation takes us on an intimate journey to discover how each member of this incredible group developed their way of thinking, how they use that power in their life and how they employ it to serve other people. Common’s guests include Oscar-winning actor Mahershala Ali, barrier-breaking ballerina Misty Copeland, comic Hasan Minhaj, activist-lawyer Bryan Stevenson, actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish, and legendary rapper Nas.

You can check out the Mind Power Mixtape podcast HERE