Kerry Washington
Birthdate: Jan 31, 1977
Birthplace: The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Kerry Washington (birthname: Kerry Marisa Washington) may be best known for her acclaimed, long-running role as DC-based crisis manager Olivia Pope in Shonda Rhimes’ hit show, Scandal (2012-2018), but she also has a considerable movie career, first appearing as co-star in indie American filmmaker Jim McKay’s coming-of-age drama, Our Song (2000), with co-stars Melissa Martinez and Anna Simpson, and which was released by IFC Films after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Washington landed a supporting role in her first studio movie, Save the Last Dance (2001), with Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas under Thomas Carter’s direction.
Washington was cast in a major supporting role in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action comedy, Bad Company (2002), starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock under Joel Schumacher’s direction, and grossing a weak $66 million (against $70 million costs) for Disney/Touchstone. Washington was in another studio movie starring Hopkins with the feature version of Philip Roth’s novel, The Human Stain (2003), directed by Robert Benson, written by Nicholas Meyer and co-starring Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise, but losing money for Miramax Films ($25 million gross against $30 million costs).
Kerry Washington starred in her movie with filmmaker Spike Lee for She Hate Me (2004), co-starring Anthony Mackie, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Jim Brown, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson and John Turturro, but proving a commercial dud with a $1.5 million return on $9 million costs for Sony Pictures Classics. Washington then landed her biggest role to date as Ray Charles’s wife Della in director/story writer/producer Taylor Hackford’s lavish biopic, Ray (2004), starring Jamie Foxx (who won the Best Actor Oscar), Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate and Regina King, and grossing a robust $124 million for Universal Pictures.
Washington was in a major supporting role opposite Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the action comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), with Adam Brody, Vince Vaughn and Keith David under Doug Liman’s direction and proving a major hit for producers Arnon Milchan’s Regency Enterprises/New Regency and distributor 20th Century Fox with a $487 million return.
Washington entered the early phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Alicia Masters in the Tim Story-directed origin story, Fantastic Four (2005), co-starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis; Washington returned in the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), again under Story’s direction and with new cast member Andre Braugher, and grossing a combined $635 million for 20th Century Fox.
Kerry Washington co-starred opposite Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who also co-wrote and co-produced) in director/co-writer/co-producer Keenan Ivory Wayans’s comedy, Little Man (2006), with Tracy Morgan, Chazz Palminteri, Molly Shannon, David Alan Grier and Rob Schneider, returning a weak $104 million for Columbia/Sony Pictures.
Washington pivoted to heavy drama next, co-starring with Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland (2006), with Simon McBurney and Gillian Anderson under Kevin Macdonald’s direction, written by Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan and earning a robust $48.4 million gross for Fox Searchlight Pictures after premiering at the Telluride Film Festival.
Washington joined the fine ensemble of Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy, Rose Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Beth Hurt, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi, Mary Steenburgen, Piper Laurie and Josh Brolin in director/writer Karen Moncrieff’s acclaimed drama, The Dead Girl (2006), released by First Look International and nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards. Washington then turned to rom-com vibes as co-star of star/director/producer/co-writer (with Louis C.K.) Chris Rock’s I Think I Love My Wife (2007), with Gina Torres, Steve Buscemi, Edward Herrmann, and Wendell Pierce, but grossing a poor $13.8 million for Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Kerry Washington reunited with Spike Lee for his WWII adaptation of screenwriter James McBride’s 2003 novel, Miracle at St. Anna (2008), starring Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Valentina Cervi, premiering at the Venice Film Festival but meeting negative reviews and even worse box office ($9.3 million returns on $45 million costs).
Washington joined co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson in the Neil LaBute-directed LAPD thriller, Lakeview Terrace (2008), co-written by David Loughery and Howard Korder, and grossing $44.7 million against $20 million costs for Screen Gems/Sony Pictures. Washington was a key part of the ensemble of director/writer Rodrigo Garcia’s multi-story drama, Mother and Child (2009), with Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson, and David Morse, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics.
Washington starred in another indie drama, director/writer Tanya Hamilton’s film, Night Catches Us (2010), co-starring Anthony Mackie, Jamie Hector and Wendell Pierce, and which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before a release by Magnolia Pictures, and the same year Washington joined director/writer/producer Tyler Perry for For Colored Girls (2010), his screen version of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 choreopoem titled for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, and which co-starred Janet Jackson, Loretta Davis, Kimberly Elise, Thandiwe Newton, Tessa Thompson, Whoopi Goldberg and Phylicia Rashad, earning $38 million for distributor Lionsgate.
Kerry Washington joined the notable cast of Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, and Laura Linney in director/writer Jacob Aaron Estes’s little-seen indie black comedy The Details (2011), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before a limited release by RADiUS-TWC. Washington made a far bigger impression in her role as Broomhilda von Schaft in director/writer Quentin Tarantino’s wild slave-era comedy-drama, Django Unchained (2012), starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz (who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, Michael Parks and Don Johnson, and which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and a strong $426 million gross for the Weinstein Company/Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing.
Washington co-starred with Craig Robinson and David Alan Grier in director/writer Tina Gordon Chism’s comedy, Peeples (2013), produced by Tyler Perry, and with S. Epatha Merkerson, Melvin Van Peebles, and Diahann Carroll, but losing money for Lionsgate ($9 million gross against $15 million costs). Washington then took on her first voice role in an animated movie in the Disney/Pixar sequel, Cars 3 (2017), joining regular Cars voice actors Owen Wilson, Chris Cooper, Larry the Cable Guy, and Bonnie Hunt, earning a decent $384 million gross.
Washington returned to the big screen after an eight year absence with her co-starring role and her producer role for director/co-writer Joe Carnahan’s action movie, Shadow Force (2025), co-starring Omar Sy, with Mark Strong, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, and released wide by Lionsgate. Washington co-starred and produced with director/producer/star Eva Longoria in the office comedy, 24-7 (date to be announced), written by Sarah Rothschild.
Personal life
Kerry Washington was born in and was raised in The Bronx by her parents, Earl (realtor) and Valerie (university professor), who was born in Jamaica. Brother sister. Washington graduated in 1994 from the private girls’ school, Spence School. Washington then studied theater and double-majored in Anthropology and Sociology at George Washington University, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1998, and also received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2013. Washington studied acting in New York City at Michael Howard Studios. Washington has been married to actor/writer/producer Nnamdi Asomugha since 2013; the couple has 2 children, Isabelle and Caleb. Washington’s height is 5’ 4”. Washington’s estimated net worth is $50 million.
Known For
Kerry Washington Movies
actor
Upcoming (1)
Previous (35)
- 2025 |
- 2025 |
Shadow Force
asKyrah Owens
An estranged couple with a bounty on their heads must go on the run with their son to avoid their former employer, a unit of shadow ops that has been sent to kill them.
- 2024 | Six Triple Eight
- 2020 | The Prom
- 2019 | American Son
- 2017 |
- 2013 |
- 2012 |
Django Unchained
asBroomhilda von Shaft
With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.
- 2011 | The Details
- 2012 | A Thousand Words
- 2010 | Night Catches Us
- 2010 | For Colored Girls
- 2009 | Mother and Child
- 2009 | The People Speak
- 2008 | From the Mouthpiece on Back
- 2008 | Lakeview Terrace
- 2007 | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
- 2007 |
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
asAlicia Masters
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
The Fantastic Four learn that they aren't the only super-powered beings in the universe when they square off against the powerful Silver Surfer and the planet-eating Galactus.
- 2007 | I Think I Love My Wife
- 2006 | The Last King of Scotland
- 2006 | Little Man
- 2005 | Fantastic Four
- 2005 |
Fantastic Four
asAlicia Masters
A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.
- 2005 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- 2005 |
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
asJasmine
A husband and wife struggle to keep their marriage alive until they realize they are both secretly working as assassins. Now, their respective assignments require them to kill each other.
- 2004 | Ray
- 2004 | She Hate Me
- 2003 | The United States of Leland
- 2004 | Against the Ropes
- 2003 | Sin
- 2002 | Bad Company
- 2001 | Lift
- 2001 | Save the Last Dance
- 2001 |
Save the Last Dance
asChenille
A white midwestern girl moves to Chicago, where her new boyfriend is a black teen from the South Side with a rough, semi-criminal past.
- 2000 | Our Song
Facts About Kerry Washington
Famed Relatives: Kerry Washington’s cousin is the late American general and Secretary of State Colin Powell. She has another notable cousin, Democratic politician Milly Silva, who ran for New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor.
Collegiate: Washington was accepted to both Yale University and Dartmouth College, but turned down both schools.
JLo Connection: Kerry Washington studied dance in high school under teacher Jennifer Lopez.
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