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Quick Facts
- NAME: Kerry Washington
- OCCUPATION: Activist, Film Actress, Television Actress
- BIRTH DATE: January 31, 1977 (Age: 36)
- EDUCATION: George Washington University, Spence School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius
Best Known For
Kerry Washington has appeared in such films as Ray, She Hate Me, The Last King of Scotland and Django Unchained (2013). She also stars on the TV series Scandal.
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Play NowKerry Washington. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:32, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523.
Kerry Washington. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Kerry Washington." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 07:32 http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523.
"Kerry Washington," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Kerry Washington," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Kerry Washington [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523.
Kerry Washington, http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Kerry Washington. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/kerry-washington-21041523. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in New York City on January 31, 1977, actress Kerry Washington started performing during her school years. She earned a degree in performance studies from George Washington University. After making her film debut in 2000's Our Song, Washington starred in such films as Save the Last Dance and Bad Company. She earned wide acclaim for her work in Ray (2004) and The Last King of Scotland. In 2012,
Contents
Quotes
"I've played a lot of different kinds of people. What's important to me is whether or not the performancce is true and real and acts as a reflection of the human experience in society."
"I wanted to work with Shamu at Sea World. I thought that was the best job in the world, to care for and feed dancing whales."
she began her run on the TV drama Scandal.
Early Life
The daughter of a real estate broker and an education professor, actress Kerry Washington was born in New York City on January 31, 1977, and grew up in the South Bronx. She started out with ballet lessons as a young child, but her first career ambition involved a certain large mammal. "I wanted to work with Shamu at Sea World," Washington told Giant. "I thought that was the best job in the world, to care for and feed dancing whales."
Washington attended the Spence School in Manhattan, a prestigious private school. In addition to appearing in school productions, she was a member of a theater group that tackled social issues. Washington soon won a theater scholarship to George Washington University, where she earned a degree in performance studies.
Acting Career
While she made her film debut in Our Song in 2000, Washington had one of her first career breakthroughs the following year. She won over audiences with her role in Save the Last Dance (2001), starring Julia Stiles. Soon after the release of this popular teen drama, Washington moved on to comedy. She appeared in the humorous action film Bad Company (2004), starring Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins.
Washington's career really took flight in 2004; she took on several major movie roles that year, including Della Rae Robinson, the wife of blind singer and musician Ray Charles, in the biopic Ray. Washington received strong reviews for her performance, and her co-star, Jamie Foxx, won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Charles. That same year, she starred opposite Anthony Mackie in Spike Lee's dramatic comedy She Hate Me.
The versatile actress tried her hand at the comic book action genre with 2005's Fantastic Four, starring Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. The following year, Washington once again showed off her skills as a dramatic actress in The Last King of Scotland. She won raves for her nuanced turn as the wife of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin—played by Forrest Whitaker—in the film. Around this time, Washington also had a recurring role on the hit television series Boston Legal.
In 2007, Washington reteamed with Chris Rock for I Think I Love My Wife. She played a vixen who gets involved with a married man (Rock) in the film. The part gave Washington the opportunity to branch out from the many devoted wife roles she had tackled in the past. She went on to explore interracial relationships with Lakeview Terrace (2008), in which she plays an African-American woman married to a white man (Patrick Wilson). The couple is harassed by an African-American cop (Samuel L. Jackson) in this thriller.
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Famous Black Activists
View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the United States. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Activists outisde of the U.S. include Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, who have fought against apartheid in South Africa. Learn more about the many black activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
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