Kerry Washington extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Kerry Washington
Washington at Hollywood Life Magazine’s 2007 Breakthrough Awards
Born	January 31, 1977 (1977-01-31) (age 31) The Bronx, New York, United States

Kerry Washington (born January 31, 1977)^[1] is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles' wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray (2004), as Kay Amin in The Last King of Scotland, and Alicia Masters in the 2005 live action Fantastic Four film and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. She has also starred in the critically acclaimed independent films Our Song and The Dead Girl.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Personal life 3 Career 4 Filmography 5 Awards/nominations 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Washington was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, the daughter of a successful real estate broker father and a professor and educational consultant mother.^[2] She performed in children's musical theater with TADA! Youth Theater in 1985, when she was 15 years old. She attended Spence School in Manhattan, graduating in 1994; fellow alumni include Gwyneth Paltrow and Emmy Rossum. Washington went on to earn a theater degree in 1998 from The George Washington University.

Personal life

Washington was engaged to actor David Moscow from October 2004 to March 2007.^[3]

As a sort of souvenir/memento, she usually tries to keep something from every character that she plays whether it is an item of wardrobe or a piece of furniture from the house that the character lived in.^[4]

She is a supporter of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.^[5]

Career

Washington made her screen debut in the ABC telefilm Magical Make-Over (1994). She was in the cast of the 1996 PBS sketch comedy-style educational series Standard Deviants, and she appeared in the short "3D" and the feature film Our Song in 2000. She went on to appear in several movies, including Save the Last Dance (2001), The Human Stain (2003), Spike Lee's She Hate Me (2004), Ray (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Little Man, & I Think I Love My Wife (2007), and, in a departure, an accented, period role as a wife of 1970s Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the UK historical drama The Last King of Scotland (2006). Washington has also appeared in the recurring role of Chelina Hall on the ABC television series Boston Legal, and in several episodes of the A&E cable-TV series 100 Centre Street.

She is the new spokeperson for L'Oréal starring in commercials and ads alongside fellow actresses Scarlett Johansson and Eva Longoria Parker, and model Doutzen Kroes.

She also co-directed and appeared in the music video for hip-hop artist Common's song, "I Want You", the fourth single off of his album Finding Forever.

In addition, Kerry serves as the narrator of the critically-acclaimed 2008 documentary about the New Orleans-based teenage TBC Brass Band entitled From the Mouthpiece on Back, which also lists The Roots as one of the executive producers of the movie.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	ABC Afterschool Specials	Heather	Episode: Magical Make-Over
1996	Standard Deviants (TV series)	Kerry
2000	Our Song	Lanisha Brown
	3D	Angie
2001	Save the Last Dance	Chenille Reynolds
	Lift (TV series)	Niecy
	NYPD Blue (TV series)	Maya Young	Episode: Franco, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn
	Law & Order (TV series)	Allie Lawrence	Episode: 3 Dawg Night
	100 Centre Street (TV series)	Unknown
2002	Take the A Train	Keisha
	Bad Company	Julie
	The Guardian	Drea Westbrook	Episode: The Next Life
2003	The United States of Leland	Ayesha
	The Human Stain	Ellie
	Sin	Kassie
2004	Against the Ropes	Renee
	Strip Search (TV)	Unknown
	She Hate Me	Fatima Goodrich
	Ray	Della Bea Robinson
2005	Sexual Life	Rosalie
	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Jasmine
	Fantastic Four	Alicia Masters
	Wait	Maggie
2006	Boston Legal (TV series)	Chelina Hall	(5 episodes, 2005-2006)
	Little Man	Vanessa
	The Last King of Scotland	Kay Amin
	The Dead Girl	Rosetta
2007	I Think I Love My Wife	Nikki Tru
	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Alicia Masters
2008	Psych (TV series)	Mira Gaffney	Episode: There's Something About Mira
	Woman in Burka	Kerry
	Lakeview Terrace	Lisa Mattson
	Miracle at St. Anna	Zana Wilder
	Life Is Hot in Cracktown	Marybeth	awaiting release
2009	A Thousand Words	TBA	filming
	Mama Black Widow	Sedalia Mama Tilson	pre-production

Awards/nominations

• BET Awards
  • 2007- Best Actress The Last King of Scotland: Nominated

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2007- Best Supporting Actress The Last King of Scotland: Nominated
  • 2005- Best Actress, Drama Ray: Nominated
  • 2003- Best Actress, Network/Cable Lift : Nominated
  • 2002- Best Independent Actor Lift: Nominated
  • 2002- Best Supporting Actress Theatrical, Save the Last Dance: Nominated
• Image Awards
  • 2007- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture The Last King of Scotland: Nominated
  • 2006- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Boston Legal: Nominated
  • 2005- Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Ray: Winner

• Independent Spirit Awards
  • 2002- Best Female Lead Lift: Nominated

• Satellite Awards
  • 2005- Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Ray: Nominated

• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2005- Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture Ray: Nominated

References

External links

• Kerry Washington at the Internet Movie Database