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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 33) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present

Kerry Washington (born January 31, 1977)¹ is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Ray Charles's wife, Della Bea Robinson, in the film Ray (2004), as Idi Amin's wife Kay in The Last King of Scotland, and as Alicia Masters, love interest of Ben Grimm, The Thing, in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007. She has also starred in the critically acclaimed independent films Our Song and The Dead Girl.

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

Early life

Washington was born in the Bronx, New York City, the daughter of a real estate broker father. Her mother was a professor and educational consultant.² She performed with the Tada theater teen group in 1985, when she was eight years old. She attended the Spence School in Manhattan, graduating in 1994. Washington went on to earn a B.A. degree in theater in 1998 from The George Washington University. She also studied at Michael Howard Studios in New York City.

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 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 spokesperson for L'Oréal, appearing 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.

Washington narrated the critically acclaimed documentary about the New Orleans-based teenage TBC Brass Band, From the Mouthpiece on Back. She also appears in Maxwell's "Bad Habits" video.

She is currently making her Broadway debut in David Mamet's Race, alongside James Spader, David Alan Grier, and Richard Thomas.

Personal life

Washington was engaged to actor David Moscow from October 2004 to March 2007.³

As a sort of souvenir or memento, she usually tries to keep something from every character that she plays, such as an item of wardrobe or a piece of furniture from the house the character lived in.⁴

She is at times referred to as a political activist and was a supporter of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.⁵

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	Our Song	Lanisha Brown
	3D	Angie	Boyz n Da Hood
2001	Save the Last Dance	Chenille Reynolds
	Lift	Niecy
2002	Take the A Train	Keisha
	Bad Company	Julie
2003	The United States of Leland	Ayesha
	The Human Stain	Ellie
	Sin	Kassie
2004	Against the Ropes	Renee
	Strip Search	Unknown	TV film
	She Hate Me	Fatima Goodrich
	Ray	Della Bea Robinson
2005	Sexual Life	Rosalie
	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Jasmine
	Fantastic Four	Alicia Masters
	Wait	Maggie
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	Woman in Burka	Kerry
	Lakeview Terrace	Lisa Mattson
	Miracle at St. Anna	Zana Wilder
2009	Life Is Hot in Cracktown	Marybeth
	A Thousand Words	TBA	post-production
2010	Mother and Child	Lucy	post-production
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	ABC Afterschool Special	Heather	Episode: "Magical Make-Over"
1996	Standard Deviants	Kerry
2001	NYPD Blue	Maya Young	Episode: "Franco, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn"
	Law & Order	Allie Lawrence	Episode: "3 Dawg Night"
	100 Centre Street	Unknown	5 episodes
2002	The Guardian	Drea Westbrook	Episode: "The Next Life"
2005-2006	Boston Legal	Chelina Hall	5 episodes
2008	Psych	Mira Gaffney	Episode: "There's Something About Mira"
2009	The People Speak	Voice of Sojourner Truth
	Black Panther	Voice of Princess Shuri

Awards and nominations

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

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2009- Best Ensemble Miracle at St. Anna: Nominated
  • 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kerry Washington

• Kerry Washington at the Internet Movie Database
• Kerry Washington at TV.com

Persondata
NAME	Washington, Kerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American actress
DATE OF BIRTH	January 31, 1977
PLACE OF BIRTH	The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH