Spotlight On Terrence Howard
A week from Saturday, Terrence Howard celebrates his 37th birthday. And what a year it's been.
Howard received an Academy Award nomination for best actor for his role in "Hustle & Flow." He also starred in "Crash," which was nominated for best picture and is considered a possible contender to upset "Brokeback Mountain" for the top prize.
In an interview withThe Saturday Early Show correspondent Tracy Smith, Howard speaks about the efforts he made to understand the lifestyle of hustlers and pimps for his Oscar-nominated role.
In "Hustle & Flow," Howard plays DJay, a Memphis pimp with a mid-life crisis and a career change on his mind. With the help of his friends, he's trying to launch a rap career.
To prepare for the challenging role,
Though most of the pimps would initially brush Howard off with an indifferent shrug, Howard says in his soft voice, "You would see all of them get still for a moment."
The actor adds, "You just see something went wrong, you know, society failed them to where they had nothing left to sell except their dignity or somebody else's humanity.
"I don't mean to be sympathetic, but I am, sometimes, to human effort," Howard says.
Ironically, Howard twice-turned down the role as DJay and says he only agreed to it after he was persuaded there was nothing in the film to glorify the street lifestyle.
As a teenager, Howard saw his share of big-city streets. He shuttled between Los Angeles, where his mother lived, and the tough side of Cleveland, where his father lived in the 1970s.
Howard remembers telling his childhood friends that he was going to be an actor, but in college, he majored in chemical engineering.
However, acting was in Howard's blood.
The grandson of New York stage actress Minnie Gentry, Howard was bitten by the acting bug at an early age. He got his start on the "Cosby Show" and performed in several other TV series over the years. He had a starring role in HBO's acclaimed made-for-TV movie, "Lackawanna Blues."
More from CBSNews.com on Terrence Howard and on the Oscars...
He made his film debut in "Mr. Holland's Opus" and had appeared in Mariah Carey's "Glitter," "Big Momma's House" and "Ray." In 2005, he appeared in "Four Brothers," and had a key role in the ensemble film "Crash."
Aside from Howard's acting prowess, his eyes are what make an instant and lasting impression.
There's a story behind that intense gaze. In high school, Howard had an ear infection that went untreated for so long that he temporarily became deaf in both ears. The hearing loss made him look deeply into people's eyes to find any clue he could pick up.
"I couldn't read lips, but if you look inside someone's eyes, you can always, you know, kind of get the story," Howard tells Smith.
He says his hearing returned after a few months, but staring into people's eyes is still a habit. "Sometimes it makes people uncomfortable, but I just really want to know."