Kerry Washington Biography

Actress Kerry Washington is probably best known for her Emmy-nominated role in the cable TV series Scandal — she plays Olivia Pope, a business “fixer” in Washington, D.C. politics. A native of New York, she studied liberal arts at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and graduated in 1998. While in school she’d had a few professional acting jobs, and out of school she quickly found work in TV shows and independent films. Since 2004 she’s appeared in several popular films, including Ray (2004, starring Jamie Foxx), Fantastic Four (2005, opposite Michael Chiklis), The Last King of Scotland (2006, opposite Forest Whitaker) and Django Unchained (2012, directed by Quentin Tarantino). She’s also made many appearances in smaller budget films, including The United States of Leland (2003, starring Ryan Gosling) and Spike Lee‘s She Hate Me (2004) and Miracle at St. Anna (2008). Since 2012 she has been the star of Scandal.