Darrin Dewitt Henson has a lot of people talking about his work, even if they don’t realize it.
The actor - best known for playing Lem on the hit television show “Soul Food” - choreographed Tom Cruise’s now infamous dance performance as producer Les Grossman (his role from “Tropic Thunder”) on the recent MTV Movie Awards.
Henson, a noted choreographer for stars like N'Sync and Christina Aguilera, said it took him about a month to teach Cruise those booty shaking moves.
“No one works harder than Tom,” Henson said, showing off a photo of him and Cruise on his cell phone. “The man is amazing.”
Henson spoke with CNN in Miami on the red carpet for the film “Takers,” which opened the 14th annual American Black Film Festival. He’s starring in “The Inheritance,” a horror film with a black cast, which is also debuting at the festival.
Henson said it was great to reunite with actress/singer/dancer Jennifer Lopez, who joined Cruise for his MTV moment. Henson and Lopez had worked together in the past and he said he was blown away by how much attention the performance has gotten.
“People went crazy over it,” he said. “And Tom’s now got a movie deal out of it so I’d have to say it went well.”