Olivia Pope

Played by Kerry Washington

Image credit: ABC.com

Character Bio (courtesy of ABC.com)

Olivia Pope is a fixer. The best in D.C. A title earned first by getting an underdog candidate elected President. What makes Olivia Pope the best is that she doesn’t fix problems. She fixes clients. She fixes people. They come to her at their lowest moment. On the worst day of their lives. Covered in blood, on the verge of conviction…when rock bottom is in sight and there’s nowhere left to turn they come to Olivia Pope for salvation. Olivia’s about to take on the biggest scandal of our era, all the while trying to hide the fact that she’s a key player at the center of it all.

 

 

 

 

Actor Bio (courtesy of ABC.com & KerryWashington.com)

A New York native, Kerry Washington performed with the Tada theater teen group and later graduated from The Spence School in Manhattan. She earned a Presidential Arts Scholarship to attend The George Washington University and, in 1994, was a winner of the YoungArts national program. In 1998 Washington graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from The George Washington University.

Winner of “Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture” for Ray at the NAACP Image Awards in 2005 and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for “Best Actress” in the film Lift in 2002, Kerry Washington is a versatile and fearless actress with an impressive list of credits.  She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in The Last King of Scotland opposite Forest Whitaker for which she was nominated for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” at the NAACP Image Awards in 2007, The Dead Girl opposite Marcia Gay Harden and Brittany Murphy, and in Lakeview Terrace starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson. Kerry was nominated for Best Actress for the 2011 BET Awards.

In 2010, Kerry starred in Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls with an all star cast including Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson and Thandie Newton, as well as in Night Catches Us, with Anthony Mackie in which she received a NAACP nominated for best actress.  She can currently be seen opposite Eddie Murphy in Paramount’s A Thousand Words.  Other upcoming projects include The Details alongside Tobey Maguire, Ray Liotta and Laura Linney, We the Peeples with Craig Robinson, Whoopi Goldberg and David Allan Grier and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained with Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz.

Prior to these films, Washington starred as Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four and it’s sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer, I Think I Love My Wife opposite Chris Rock, the Wayans Brothers’ comedy Little Man, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Spike Lee’s She Hate Me, Sidney Lumet’s HBO film Strip Search and the independent film Sexual Life.

Other film credits for Washington include Against the Ropes, The United States of Leland, The Human Stain, Bad Company, Save the Last Dance for which she received a Teen Choice Award for Best Breakout Performance, and the highly acclaimed independent film, Our Song.

In 2010, Washington made her Broadway debut in David Mamet’s provocative hit Race with James Spader and Jason Alan Grier.

In TV, Washington appeared with Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Sean Penn in Howard Zinn’s documentary The People Speak, which premiered on the History Channel in December 2009.  She also voiced the role of Princess Shuri in the BET animated series Black Panther.

Washington is an active member of the V-Counsel, an esteemed group of advisors to V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, and she serves on the board of Voices of a People’s History, a non-profit arts and education group which uses live performance and educational programs to illuminate the primary source material that inspired the book, Voices of a People’s History of the United States. She also sits on the Artist’s Committee for the largest national advocacy association for the arts, Americans For The Arts.

In 2004 Kerry received the Hollywood Life Breakthrough award. In 2005 Kerry received the Young Artist award from Americans for the Arts; this award is for incredible accomplishments and exemplary leadership. In 2008 Washington received several accolades including the Women’s Project Women of Achievement Award, the GWU Alumni Association’s Recent Alumni Achievement Award, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Phoenix Award, for Washington’s commitment to social advocacy. In 2009, Washington received the US Conference of Mayors Artist-Citizen Award for public leadership in the arts.

Washington is currently a brand ambassador for Movado.

In November of 2009, Washington was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Washington was born in the Bronx and currently resides in Los Angeles.

 

Who Am I? – Kerry Washington (courtesy of KerryWashington.com)

“Who Am I?” is an acting tool that Kerry Washington uses during the creative process of developing a character by using this list of questions as a way of discovering new things about the character. Washington has asked fellow actors to answer the same questions as a fun way for us to learn more about them!

For more information on Kerry Washington

Official website: KerryWashington.com

Official Facebook fan page: Kerry Washington

Follow her on twitter: @kerrywashington

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