In the Season 4 Empire episode “False Face,” Lucious (Terrence Howard) tries to sabotage Eddie’s takeover by hitting him with legal papers. Meanwhile, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) continues her search for her friend’s orphaned daughter which brings up memories of her mother Renee. In a flashback, Renee visits Cookie in prison. Renee tells Cookie, “Of my three girls, you remind me most of myself.” Cookie takes that as an insult. Mom had walked out on Cookie and her sisters. Renee is there to tell Cookie (or Loretha, as she calls her) not to give up.
Renee is portrayed by Alfre Woodard. The Oscar-nominated actress is known from her TV roles on Marvel’s Luke Cage (Mariah Dillard), State of Affairs (President Payton), True Blood (Ruby Jean Reynolds), Desperate Housewives (Betty Applewhite), and St. Elsewhere (Dr. Rozanne Turner), among others. Woodard is also well recognized for her roles in the films Captain America (Miriam), 12 Years a Slave (Mistress Shaw), Passion Fish (Chantelle), Grand Canyon (Jane), Scrooged (Grace Cooley), and Cross Creek for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Empire airs Wednesdays at 8pm on FOX.
I’ll grant you it’s kind of strange that Alfre Woodard plays completely different characters in Civil War and Luke Cage, but as far as I’m concerned, she could be in every movie and TV show, and I’d be OK with that. Remember when she was in Star Trek? That was awesome. pic.twitter.com/Cy6BpTl00A
— Tom’s Guide (@tomsguide) April 21, 2018
