It’s hard out here for a pimp in the Rio Grande Valley.
Monday, July 27, 2026, will forever be known as “Terrence Howard Day” in Edinburg.
Mayor Omar Ochoa made the proclamation from city hall, as the Oscar-nominated actor was in town for an unknown business venture, according to city officials.
Howard stopped by city hall, where he shook hands with the mayor, received a plaque, and had the day named in his honor.
“I am blown away,” he softly exclaimed and touted the city’s hospitality. “Even when first getting off the plane, and the way people greeted me,” he continued. “I’m making friends. I like their hello. It’s really beautiful.”
Howard’s on-screen corpus spans both movies and television, with dozens of feature films and television series at the intersection of drama, crime, action and music.
He is well known for his portrayal of Djay, a Memphis pimp who dreams of becoming a rapper, in “Hustle & Flow” (2005) – a role for which he earned an Academy Award nomination.
Howard — a self taught guitarist and pianist — also pursued music for a short period of time. He released his only studio album “Shine Through It” in 2008.
More notable projects include “Empire” (2015-2020), a musical family television drama which ran for six seasons. He played Lucious Lyon, a hip hop executive whose record label sits at the center of the series.
The actor also appeared in “Iron Man” (2008) where Howard brought to life Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes, which was recast by Don Cheadle in later MCU films.
He earned widespread praise early in his career for his part as Cameron Thayer in the Oscar-winning drama “Crash” (2004), a feature film which challenged prevailing narratives, and explored race, prejudice, privilege, fear and power, against the backdrop of Los Angeles.
According to IMDb, he has earned 32 wins and 62 nominations in his career thus far. In 2017, he received the American Black Film Festival’s Excellence in the Arts Award.
In 2022, Howard had previously made statements about possibly retiring from acting, however, his work has continued on since then in limited releases.
Howard was born and raised in Chicago. His family introduced him to the world of acting. His grandmother Minnie Gentry’s expansive career began at the Karamu House in Cleveland, which is regarded as “the oldest continuously producing African American theater in the nation.”
Despite his accolades and generational roots, for many years he has publicly said acting was not his career goal, and in interviews spanning decades of his career, he has long maintained a passion for science, even calling physics “his true calling” in several interviews.
“I see a very prosperous city,” Howard said of Edinburg on Monday.
Whether his visit to Edinburg marks the beginning of a larger project in the Rio Grande Valley remains to be seen. For now the actor, songwriter and aspiring scientist leaves the city with a proclamation in his name, a bunch of new friends, and July 27, 2026, permanently designated as Terrence Howard Day.