--- title: Hidden Figures' Katherine Johnson Speaks Out description: Find out what Katherine Johnson, the real-life star of Hidden Figures, thinks about the recent attention about her work for NASA. canonical: https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-30T20:50:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:35.976Z og:title: The Real-Life Star of Hidden Figures Speaks Out: 'I Was Just Doing My Job' og:description: She's surprised by her newfound fame og:url: https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23301fb838e9f7b1/6988b7e1fb4eacf5e0890969/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: hidden-figures-katherine-johnson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Real-Life Star of Hidden Figures Speaks Out: 'I Was Just Doing My Job' twitter:description: She's surprised by her newfound fame twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23301fb838e9f7b1/6988b7e1fb4eacf5e0890969/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Real-Life Star of _Hidden Figures_ Speaks Out: 'I Was Just Doing My Job'  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Jan 30, 2017 8:50 PM UTC  20th Century Fox  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Jan 30, 2017 8:50 PM UTC Since the release of [_Hidden Figures_](http://motto.time.com/4634404/octavia-spencer-hidden-figures-free-screening/?iid=sr-link2), 98-year-old Katherine Johnson — the mathematician portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the acclaimed film — has been [somewhat of a hero](http://motto.time.com/4639215/astronaut-hidden-figures-screening-gofundme/). But the former NASA scientist is surprised by all the attention. “There’s nothing to it — I was just doing my job,” Johnson [told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hidden-no-more-katherine-johnson-a-black-nasa-pioneer-finds-acclaim-at-98/2017/01/27/d6a6feb8-dd0f-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.f31e08b50235&wpisrc=nl%5Frainbow&wpmm=1) in an interview. “They needed information and I had it, and it didn’t matter that I found it. At the time, it was just a question and an answer.” Johnson has seen the film — which chronicles Johnson and her co-workers’ [invaluable contributions](http://time.com/4602996/hidden-figures-langley/) to John Glenn’s mission to become the first man to orbit Earth — three times, according to the _Post_. She recalled that Glenn specifically asked for Johnson to work on the undertaking. “He knew I had done \[the calculations\] before for him, and they trusted my work. He asked me to do it, and I did it,” she said. “They never asked me to go back over \[my calculations\] because when I did it, I had done my best, and it was right.” The mathematician has a handful of stories about her historic firsts, including becoming the first woman, and woman of color, to attend an editorial meeting at NASA. Johnson told the _Post_ that she wanted to go to the meeting, and when someone told her women typically attend, she responded: “Is there a law that says I can’t go?” Her boss said, “Let her go.” And that was that. While Johnson is modest about her milestones, her daughter — who has seen the film nine times — is glad that her mother is finally getting the recognition she deserves. “It’s wonderful — despite her humility, everyone is finding out what she did,” she said. \[[The Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hidden-no-more-katherine-johnson-a-black-nasa-pioneer-finds-acclaim-at-98/2017/01/27/d6a6feb8-dd0f-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.f31e08b50235&wpisrc=nl%5Frainbow&wpmm=1)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/"},"headline":"The Real-Life Star of Hidden Figures Speaks Out: 'I Was Just Doing My Job'","datePublished":"2017-01-30T20:50:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:35.976Z","description":"She's surprised by her newfound fame","url":"https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23301fb838e9f7b1/6988b7e1fb4eacf5e0890969/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23301fb838e9f7b1/6988b7e1fb4eacf5e0890969/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"hidden-figures-katherine-johnson","caption":"","creditText":"20th Century Fox","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4653818/hidden-figures-katherine-johnson-interview/","name":"The Real-Life Star of Hidden Figures Speaks Out: 'I Was Just Doing My Job'"}}]}] ```