Who is Kerry Washington?
[1] The world knows Washington as 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.
Washington was born January 31, 1977 in the
Bronx,
New York, the daughter of a successful
real estate broker father and a professor and educational consultant mother.
[2] She is an only child, and speaks seven languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin, Esperanto and Russian .performed with the
Tada theater teen group in 1985, when she was 8. She attended
Spence School in
Manhattan, graduating in 1994. Fellow alumni include
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Emmy Rossum 
and
Sally Pressman .

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.

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",