---
name: "Kerry Washington"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kerry-washington"
fi1m_id: "kerry-washington"
imdb_id: "nm0913488"
tmdb_id: 11703
wikidata_id: "Q232104"
roles: ["Actor","Director"]
born: "31 January 1977"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 10
average_fi1m_score: 64
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 8
updated: "2026-10-25T09:46:52.892039+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kerry Washington

## Identity

Kerry Washington

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kerry-washington
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** kerry-washington
- **IMDb ID:** nm0913488
- **TMDB ID:** 11703
- **Wikidata ID:** Q232104
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Washington, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232104, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913488/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11703

Actor and director. Born 31 January 1977 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor, Director
- **Born:** 31 January 1977, The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
- **Active:** 2001–present
- **Also known as:** Kerry Marisa Washington
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 10: 8 acting, 1 directing, 1 producing
- **Frequently works with:** [Avi Arad](https://film.one/person/avi-arad.md), [Bernd Eichinger](https://film.one/person/bernd-eichinger.md), [Chris Evans](https://film.one/person/chris-evans.md), [Gillian Anderson](https://film.one/person/gillian-anderson.md), [Ioan Gruffudd](https://film.one/person/ioan-gruffudd.md), [Jamie Foxx](https://film.one/person/jamie-foxx.md), [Jessica Alba](https://film.one/person/jessica-alba.md), [Julian McMahon](https://film.one/person/julian-mcmahon.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 64, as actor, over 8 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 60 (5), 2010s 72 (3), 2020s 79 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 64 to 62 across 8 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 5 at 60–79, 3 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 8 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Action 3, Adventure 2, Comedy 2, Family 2, Music 2
- **Screen time:** 17 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $2,192m across 8 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Washington, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q232104, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913488/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/11703

## Coming up

- *What Remains* (2027-01-01), as Detective Elise Sutton

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Save the Last Dance*](https://film.one/film/save-the-last-dance.md) (66), [*Cars 3*](https://film.one/film/cars-3.md) (58), [*Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer*](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer.md) (52), [*Fantastic Four*](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-2005.md) (48)
- **HBO Max:** [*Insecure*](https://film.one/tv/insecure.md) (81)
- **AMC+:** [*Django Unchained*](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md) (78)
- **Netflix:** [*Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery*](https://film.one/film/wake-up-dead-man-a-knives-out-mystery.md) (77)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Kerry Washington

> On film Kerry Washington has spent two decades waiting, in doorways and pews, to be looked at, rescued or suspected. Television gave her the lead the cinema never has, and that is where anyone who wants to see what she can do should start.

Watch what Kerry Washington is asked to do in the films we have reviewed. In *Ray* (2004) she stands in a doorway while Jamie Foxx's Ray Charles does something he should not. In *Django Unchained* (2012) she is the wife the whole plot rides out to fetch, and she is photographed a great deal and heard very little. In *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (2025) she sits in a pew among a dozen well-known faces, waiting for Benoit Blanc to get round to suspecting her. Three films, three directors, one job: be the reason the men are talking, and do not interrupt them.

She is good at it, which is part of the problem. Washington plays the writing she is given, and when the writing is patience she plays patience without fidgeting, so that a director can leave her in the frame for a long time and nothing goes wrong. Della Bea Robinson in *Ray* is written as a saint, and Washington gets one scene of anger in 152 minutes. We sat up for it, because for two or three minutes the film had a second person in it, and we were sorry when she went back to the doorway.

The career as the cinema saw it runs from *Our Song* (2000) and *Save the Last Dance* (2001) through *Ray* and into studio work, two *Fantastic Four* films (2005, 2007) and *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2005), none of which asked much of her. Then came *Scandal* (2012–2018), and Olivia Pope, the first Black woman to lead a network drama in decades. We have not reviewed it, so we will not judge it, but the reputation it made her is for authority, for women in charge, and it is not a reputation the films had tested or have tested since. "Olivia changed my life," she has said. "This was the role of a lifetime." Nobody else offered her one.

The Foxx and Tarantino reunion in *Django Unchained* is the clearest case. The film is funny and brutal and it insists Broomhilda is the point of everything, and it still gives her almost nothing to do but be looked at and rescued. Watching her stand there with the whole story built around her silence, we were not moved so much as annoyed on her behalf. Rian Johnson does the same thing more politely in *Wake Up Dead Man*: she is one of several actors who could be lifted out without leaving a hole, and that is a waste of somebody who has been carrying a series for six years.

Since then she has produced through Simpson Street and directed for television, including on *Insecure* (2016), a series we liked a good deal, though the direction of any one episode is not what we noticed about it. That may be where the answer lies. If the films will not write her a part, she is now in a position to write one, or at least to hire the person who will. Until then, the doorway.

## Biography

Kerry Washington is an American actress. She was born on 31 January 1977 in The Bronx, New York City.

She is known for playing Broomhilda von Shaft in the film *Django Unchained* (2012) and Vera Draven, Esq. in *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (2025). Other film roles include Jasmine in *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2005), Alicia Masters in the *Fantastic Four* films (2005 and 2007), and Della Bea Robinson in *Ray* (2004).

Washington gained recognition for starring as Olivia Pope in the television series *Scandal* (2012–2018). She has received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two Tony Awards. On stage, she made her Broadway debut in *Race* (2009).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (10)

### Performed in (8) — the average rests on these

- *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (2025), Fi1m 77, as Vera Draven, Esq. — [page](https://film.one/film/wake-up-dead-man-a-knives-out-mystery.md)
- *Cars 3* (2017), Fi1m 58, as Natalie Certain (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/cars-3.md)
- *Django Unchained* (2012), Fi1m 78, as Broomhilda von Shaft — [page](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md)
- *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* (2007), Fi1m 52, as Alicia Masters — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer.md)
- *Fantastic Four* (2005), Fi1m 48, as Alicia Masters — [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-2005.md)
- *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2005), Fi1m 64, as Jasmine — [page](https://film.one/film/mr-and-mrs-smith-2005.md)
- *Ray* (2004), Fi1m 70, as Della Bea Robinson — [page](https://film.one/film/ray.md)
- *Save the Last Dance* (2001), Fi1m 66, as Chenille Reynolds — [page](https://film.one/film/save-the-last-dance.md)

### Directed (1)

- *Insecure* (2016), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/insecure.md)

### Produced (1)

- *Daughters* (2024), Fi1m 81, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/daughters.md)

## Complete filmography (78)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *What Remains* (2027), series, as Detective Elise Sutton
- *Animals* (2026), as Abigail — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/animals.md)
- *Imperfect Women* (2026), series, as Eleanor · Executive Producer
- *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (2025), as Vera Draven, Esq. — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/wake-up-dead-man-a-knives-out-mystery.md)
- *Escape Room* (2025), Actor
- *Shadow Force* (2025), as Kyrah · Producer
- *The Six Triple Eight* (2024), as Charity Adams · Executive Producer
- *Daughters* (2024), Executive Producer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/daughters.md)
- *UnPrisoned* (2023), series, as Paige Alexander · Executive Producer
- *The School for Good and Evil* (2022), as Professor Dovey
- *Reasonable Doubt* (2022), series, Executive Producer, Director
- *Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes* (2021), Executive Producer
- *The Prom* (2020), as Mrs. Greene
- *The Fight* (2020), Producer
- *Little Fires Everywhere* (2020), series, as Mia Warren · Executive Producer
- *Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"* (2019), Executive Producer
- *American Son* (2019), as Kendra Ellis-Connor · Executive Producer
- *Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons"* (2019), as Helen Willis
- *Five Points* (2018), series, Writer, Executive Producer
- *Man of the House* (2018), Executive Producer
- *Cars 3* (2017), as Natalie Certain (voice) — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/cars-3.md)
- *Insecure* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/insecure.md)
- *Confirmation* (2016), as Anita Hill · Executive Producer
- *How to Get Away with Murder* (2014), series, as Olivia Pope
- *Peeples* (2013), as Grace Peeples
- *Girl Rising* (2013), as Narrator - Nepal (voice)
- *Django Unchained* (2012), as Broomhilda von Shaft — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/django-unchained.md)
- *Wide-Awake* (2012), as The Homeowner
- *The Details* (2012), as Rebecca Mazzoni
- *Scandal* (2012), series, as Olivia Pope
- *A Thousand Words* (2012), as Caroline McCall
- *Olmsted and America's Urban Parks* (2011), as Narrator
- *Night Catches Us* (2010), as Patricia Wilson
- *For Colored Girls* (2010), as Kelly / Blue
- *Black Panther* (2010), as Princess Shuri
- *Black Panther* (2010), series, as Princess Shuri (voice)
- *Mother and Child* (2009), as Lucy
- *Life Is Hot in Cracktown* (2009), as Marybeth
- *Lakeview Terrace* (2008), as Lisa Mattson
- *Miracle at St. Anna* (2008), as Zana Wilder
- *Woman In Burka* (2008), as Kerry
- *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* (2007), as Alicia Masters — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer.md)
- *Put It in a Book* (2007), as Sheila
- *I Think I Love My Wife* (2007), as Nikki Tru
- *The Dead Girl* (2006), as Rosetta
- *The Last King of Scotland* (2006), as Kay Amin
- *Little Man* (2006), as Vanessa
- *Psych* (2006), series, as Mira Gaffney
- *Wait* (2005), as Maggie
- *Fantastic Four* (2005), as Alicia Masters — Fi1m 48, [page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-four-2005.md)
- *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (2005), as Jasmine — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/mr-and-mrs-smith-2005.md)
- *Sexual Life* (2005), as Rosalie
- *Ray* (2004), as Della Bea Robinson — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/ray.md)
- *Boston Legal* (2004), series, as Chelina Hall — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/boston-legal.md)
- *She Hate Me* (2004), as Fatima Goodrich
- *Strip Search* (2004), Actor
- *Against the Ropes* (2004), as Renee
- *The Human Stain* (2003), as Ellie
- *The United States of Leland* (2003), as Ayesha
- *Sin* (2003), as Kassie
- *Bad Company* (2002), as Julie
- *The Guardian* (2001), series, as Drea Westbrook
- *Lift* (2001), as Niecy
- *100 Centre Street* (2001), series, Actor
- *Save the Last Dance* (2001), as Chenille Reynolds — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/save-the-last-dance.md)
- *The Standard Deviants: The Really Big World of Astronomy, Part 2* (2000), as Actor
- *Deadline* (2000), series, as Tina Johnson
- *Our Song* (2000), as Lanisha Brown
- *The Standard Deviants: The Twisted World of Trigonometry, Part 2* (1997), as Actor
- *The Standard Deviants: The Twisted World of Trigonometry, Part 1* (1997), as Actor
- *Magical Make-Over* (1994), as Heather
- *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Allie Lawrence — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md)
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Rayshelle Peyton (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *24-7*, as Producer
- *Rules of Engagement*, Producer
- *An Innocent Girl*, as Executive Producer
- *Kerry Washington: Thicker Than Water - A Conversation with Robin Roberts*, Actor
- *The Mothers*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-1ed250eaf503.jpg) Kerry Washington — Max Surprenant, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Kerry_Washington_TIFF_2025_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-6736342302e7.jpg) Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026 — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano.jpg/1280px-KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-a51156c18f3e.jpg) Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026 — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano2.jpg/1280px-KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-58ac4be770e2.jpg) Kerry Washington at the Off-Broadway Opening Night of "The Whoopi Monologues" - July 13, 2026 — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano3.jpg/1280px-KerryWashington-byPhilipRomano3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-0c99d6ddba6b.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-a6a425f204cd.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-e214747286aa.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB
- ![Kerry Washington at "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" world premiere (2022)](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-6e9d54eb64df.jpg) Kerry Washington at "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" world premiere (2022) — Max Surprenant, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Kerry_Washington%2C_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2025_1.jpg/1280px-Kerry_Washington%2C_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2025_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kerry Washington at "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" world premiere (2022)](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-c5c35db129bd.jpg) Kerry Washington at "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" world premiere (2022) — Max Surprenant, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Kerry_Washington%2C_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2025_2.jpg/1280px-Kerry_Washington%2C_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2025_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-632cc55454b1.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-6f1b30f7a131.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB
- ![Kerry Washington](https://film.one/media/person/7579/gallery-0bd5b1ffd5e8.jpg) Kerry Washington — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 5 won

- Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award 2024: Entrepreneur in Entertainment Award (won)
- Women of the Year 2022: Women of the Year (won)
- Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year 2016: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year (won)
- GLAAD Vanguard Award 2015: GLAAD Vanguard Award (won)
- Lucy Award 2014: Lucy Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kerry-washington