10 Things You Didn't Know About Empire

10 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT Empire EmpireBooBookitty.com Terrence Howard was forced to change his perm after the pilot Lee Daniels explains that Terrence Howard was looking to channel his inner Prince and James Brown but he made him change his hairstyle just in time for the filming of the second episode. Bryshere Y. Gray was offered the role of Hakeem after a FaceTime audition Before Empire's executive producer, Brian Grazer, would give the okay to officially bring Bryshere on as Hakeem he said he needed to see him rap on FaceTime first. Taraji P. Henson improvises a lot of Cookie's lines Danny Strong explains, “she'll improv stuff and it'll be hysterical." Trai Byers almost stopped acting to become a pastor In 2013, Trai Byers contemplated becoming a pastor before landing two major acting gigs. Lucious Lyon's favorite color is purple One reason Cookie wears purple is because it's Lucious' favorite color Michael Jackson is Jussie Smollett’s greatest musical influence Jussie Smollett explains that Michael Jackson is the prototype of what an entertainer is and you feel the joy he had when he was performing. Wesley Snipes was almost Lucious Lyon Lee Daniels originally had Snipes in mind for the role but Taraji P. Henson asked him to approach Terrence Howard. Hakeem has the most expensive wardrobe Hakeem is a young hip-hop mogul and his flashy street wardrobe is the most expensive on the show Taraji P. Henson's working relationship with Lee Daniels began before she joined Empire Henson auditioned for Daniels' 2009 film Precious and wanted to play the title role but Daniels had a different character in mind. Before Empire, Jussie Smollett was a clown for kids' parties Jussie also worked at Macy's, he was a waiter, a publicist and a bartender at The Lion King on Broadway powered by Piktochart I-I make information beautiful