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Julia Stiles, Kerry Washington in Save the Last Dance.Paramount Pictures/courtesy: Everett Collection
Washington had just graduated from George Washington University, majoring in anthropology and sociology, when she landed her first big studio film,Save the Last Dance, which came out in 2001.
02of 16Paramount/ Everett"It was really exciting for me. It was the first time I had a trailer and a per diem and hair and makeup people," Washington toldParadeof her role, which she took at 22 years old.“I don’t think any of us really knew what a huge hit it was going to be, but we were all really driven to tell an important story regardless of how well it did commercially.”
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Paramount/ Everett
“It was really exciting for me. It was the first time I had a trailer and a per diem and hair and makeup people,” Washington toldParadeof her role, which she took at 22 years old.
“I don’t think any of us really knew what a huge hit it was going to be, but we were all really driven to tell an important story regardless of how well it did commercially.”
03of 16Save the Last Dance cast.Paramount Pictures/courtesy: Everett CollectionAt the time, the actress wanted “to make sure the character wasn’t a stereotype, but that she felt like a real person,” according toAllure (viaGlamour).“Especially for me, as a woman and as a person of color, I play these roles where many people in society may never think about that person. I knew that there were going to be special challenges to being a woman of colour as an actor,” she continued before adding that although times may feel different now, “It’s not as though we all live in a wonderland of inclusivity.”
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Save the Last Dance cast.Paramount Pictures/courtesy: Everett Collection
At the time, the actress wanted “to make sure the character wasn’t a stereotype, but that she felt like a real person,” according toAllure (viaGlamour).
“Especially for me, as a woman and as a person of color, I play these roles where many people in society may never think about that person. I knew that there were going to be special challenges to being a woman of colour as an actor,” she continued before adding that although times may feel different now, “It’s not as though we all live in a wonderland of inclusivity.”
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Washington went from one big film to the next three years later inRay, playingRay Charles' wife, Della Bea Robinson, oppositeJamie Foxx.
“It was very special because her whole life she refused to do interviews with the press,” the star toldTribute.caof her experience with the real Mrs. Robinson. “She felt like she had to separate Ray Charles from Ray Charles Robinson, the man that she loved and was married to and [was] the father of her children.”
“To sit down and talk with me as much as she did was very special,” she added.
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Columbia/The Weinstein Company/Kobal/Shutterstock
Washington toldIndiewirethat Tarantino had met with her first for the role of Broomhilda, then spent “a lot of months meeting with a lot of other people” before coming “back to me.”
06of 16Columbia/The Weinstein Company/Kobal/Shutterstock"I loved the script and I thought it was intense, original and important," she said of the film. “I thought I had never seen anything like this before and that it had to get made.“She admitted toIndieWire, “I didn’t know if I was the right person to do it because it scared the crap out of me. I was scared about the places I had to go emotionally and psychologically as an artist.“But, through the support of her castmates and director, she was able to push through.“We all just walked this line of protecting each other and pushing each other,” she said. “Our coach in all of that is Quentin.”
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“I loved the script and I thought it was intense, original and important,” she said of the film. “I thought I had never seen anything like this before and that it had to get made.”
She admitted toIndieWire, “I didn’t know if I was the right person to do it because it scared the crap out of me. I was scared about the places I had to go emotionally and psychologically as an artist.”
But, through the support of her castmates and director, she was able to push through.
“We all just walked this line of protecting each other and pushing each other,” she said. “Our coach in all of that is Quentin.”
07of 16Fox Searchlight/Kobal/ShutterstockPrior to her role as Kay Amin inThe Last King of Scotland, Washington had never been to the continent of Africa, but called it “a gift to be able to go,” according toParade. The fictional story - which follows Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) as he tries to escape the terrifying reigns of the real-life former president of Uganda, Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) - allowed the actress to transform into an African woman to play the role of Amin’s fourth wife.“It was really fun to be there and have the responsibility of absorbing the culture and embodying the country,” she said.
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Fox Searchlight/Kobal/Shutterstock
Prior to her role as Kay Amin inThe Last King of Scotland, Washington had never been to the continent of Africa, but called it “a gift to be able to go,” according toParade. The fictional story - which follows Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) as he tries to escape the terrifying reigns of the real-life former president of Uganda, Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) - allowed the actress to transform into an African woman to play the role of Amin’s fourth wife.
“It was really fun to be there and have the responsibility of absorbing the culture and embodying the country,” she said.
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During his eight-year rule, Amin was deemed the “Butcher of Uganda” and killed close to 300,000 out of a total population of 12 million, according to theNew York Times.
“When you look at the Pan-African movement at the time, the whole world was moving into a period of just beginning to understand Black and African empowerment, and Black pride,” Washington toldIndieLondon. “There are changes that Amin made to the constitution that still exist because they were for the betterment of society.”
“So, you can see why it’s a really complicated issue and it’s not black and white. That’s why I think Forest’s portrayal of him is touching on genius,” she continued. “We, as human beings, want to make somebody bad or good - evil or wonderful. But the reality is that he’s a person and that makes it much more complicated.”
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Phillip Caruso/Fox Searchlight/Kobal/Shutterstock
The film was a remake ofChloe in the Afternoon, a French film about a man who finds himself attracted to a younger woman - insert Washington’s character Tru.
10of 16Phillip Caruso/Fox Searchlight/Kobal/ShutterstockAlthough the role didn’t make as much of a splash as her former ones in dramatic films, the movie showed Washington could be just as funny as serious.
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Although the role didn’t make as much of a splash as her former ones in dramatic films, the movie showed Washington could be just as funny as serious.
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Overbrook Entertaiment/Kobal/Shutterstock
“One thing was that I have never really seen this kind of African-American woman onscreen before,” she told theInquirerof her role. “She’s a very modern character in that she’s a crunchy-granola Berkeley graduate, progressive, environmentalist, open-minded, lives a really inclusive, multicultural lifestyle.”
She continued, saying: “I have so many girlfriends like that, and my life is like that, and I thought, How great to have that woman onscreen.”
12of 16Mitch Haaseth/ABC/GettyFast-forward to 2012, when the star took on a role of a lifetime as the best fixer Washington, D.C., has ever seen:Scandal’s Olivia Pope. But in 2017, it was revealed that ABC network executives originallyenvisioned Pope as a white woman.“The network was reading us their top choices, and it wasConnie [Britton]and all white women,” casting director Linda Lowy toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “I panicked. Somebody finally piped up, ‘We’re going to have to redo this list.’ “Ultimately, Washington was cast, which made her the first Black woman to topline a drama in 37 years.
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Mitch Haaseth/ABC/Getty
Fast-forward to 2012, when the star took on a role of a lifetime as the best fixer Washington, D.C., has ever seen:Scandal’s Olivia Pope. But in 2017, it was revealed that ABC network executives originallyenvisioned Pope as a white woman.
“The network was reading us their top choices, and it wasConnie [Britton]and all white women,” casting director Linda Lowy toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “I panicked. Somebody finally piped up, ‘We’re going to have to redo this list.’ "
Ultimately, Washington was cast, which made her the first Black woman to topline a drama in 37 years.
13of 16AlthoughWashington agreed that Britton would’ve been great for the role, Lowy insisted, “It was Kerry from the moment I took her to meet Shonda,” referring to the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes.“She could talk Washington more than I could talk Washington. She was different than what I originally envisioned,” said Rhimes. “We were all like, ‘Oh my God,’ because she’s tiny, cute, pretty and younger - and because she was all those things, she was aware that people would underestimate her.”
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AlthoughWashington agreed that Britton would’ve been great for the role, Lowy insisted, “It was Kerry from the moment I took her to meet Shonda,” referring to the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes.
“She could talk Washington more than I could talk Washington. She was different than what I originally envisioned,” said Rhimes. “We were all like, ‘Oh my God,’ because she’s tiny, cute, pretty and younger - and because she was all those things, she was aware that people would underestimate her.”
14of 16Kerry Washington InstagramThe beloved series went on from April 2012 to April 2018 with a total of seven seasons.“Tomorrow morning I will wake up and begin to try to process the magical dream of the past seven seasons,” Washingtonwrote on Instagramin her farewell note to the show and her fans. “I imagine it will take some time to really understand what just transpired in my life. But, this much, I know… I am filled with endless gratitude for our #Scandal Family. Our glorious cast & crew and our community of #Gladiators. TOGETHER, we have changed history. Transformed television. And illuminated each other’s lives.““Thank you for watching. And tweeting. And being with us!!!!” Washington continued.She signed the post, “With love & gratitude, My very best, Kerry.”
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Kerry Washington Instagram
The beloved series went on from April 2012 to April 2018 with a total of seven seasons.
“Tomorrow morning I will wake up and begin to try to process the magical dream of the past seven seasons,” Washingtonwrote on Instagramin her farewell note to the show and her fans. “I imagine it will take some time to really understand what just transpired in my life. But, this much, I know… I am filled with endless gratitude for our #Scandal Family. Our glorious cast & crew and our community of #Gladiators. TOGETHER, we have changed history. Transformed television. And illuminated each other’s lives.”
“Thank you for watching. And tweeting. And being with us!!!!” Washington continued.
She signed the post, “With love & gratitude, My very best, Kerry.”
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MAI/Shutterstock
16of 16Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon in Little Fires Everywhere.Erin Simkin/HuluFor her latest work, the limited Hulu seriesLittle Fires Everywhere, costarring Reese Witherspoon, Washington drew inspiration from her own mother.“I think there’s so much of my mom in [my character] Mia,“she told NPR. “One of the things I witnessed growing up was that my mom was very aware - as a Black woman, as an academic, as the daughter of immigrants - she was aware of the assumptions that people would make about her, and she would play with those assumptions. Not in an aggressive way, but she liked to watch people try to figure her out and she liked to not fit into a box.“She continued, “My mom is not somebody who has ever really fit into anybody else’s box, even in terms of the performance of racial identity, or her hobbies, or interests, or how she parented me. A lot like Mia, she wrote her own rules when she was raising me.”
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Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon in Little Fires Everywhere.Erin Simkin/Hulu
For her latest work, the limited Hulu seriesLittle Fires Everywhere, costarring Reese Witherspoon, Washington drew inspiration from her own mother.
“I think there’s so much of my mom in [my character] Mia,“she told NPR. “One of the things I witnessed growing up was that my mom was very aware - as a Black woman, as an academic, as the daughter of immigrants - she was aware of the assumptions that people would make about her, and she would play with those assumptions. Not in an aggressive way, but she liked to watch people try to figure her out and she liked to not fit into a box.”
She continued, “My mom is not somebody who has ever really fit into anybody else’s box, even in terms of the performance of racial identity, or her hobbies, or interests, or how she parented me. A lot like Mia, she wrote her own rules when she was raising me.”
source: people.com
