Issue Date: June 5, 2005

In this article:
How Kerry makes a difference

A bright new face

Actress Kerry Washington shone in Ray. Next up: "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Then "Fantastic Four." And she's just getting rolling.

By Kevin Maynard

Success for Kerry Washington means being able to go to the doctor. Yes, the doctor. The big moment came for the actress when, in 2000, she got cast in the Chris Rock/Anthony Hopkins flick "Bad Company" and the Screen Actors Guild awarded her health insurance.

"I thought, 'Wow! I'm an actor,' " she says, all curls and telegenic smile. "It's big for a 23-year-old to be able to tell her parents, 'Hey, I can pay for a visit to the ER, not just my cable bill.' "

Now Washington, 28, could afford surgery. Right after a solid performance as Ray Charles' long-suffering wife in Ray, she has pivotal roles in two big-budget summer movies: next weekend's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie caper about husband-and-wife assassins, and July's "Fantastic Four," based on the Marvel comic.

In Smith, Washington plays Jasmine, Jolie's outspoken sidekick. Not one for action flicks, she had to be "seduced" into taking the job, she says. It required stunts like rock-climbing and jumping through a window -- and dodging press inquiries about the on-set antics of rumored couple-of-the-century Pitt and Jolie.

"I tend to mind my business a lot on set," Washington says, admitting only that there was tension between the two stars and director Doug Liman. "Angelina has her priorities straight, and [her son] Maddox is the love of her life. Besides, Hollywood's always got a lot of drama."

That much she knows, having just experienced it firsthand. Washington caused a firestorm of debate online when she landed the role of "Fantastic Four's" Alicia Masters, a blind artist adored by the Thing (played by "The Shield's" Michael Chiklis). In the comic book, the character is blond and blue-eyed. Some fans weren't pleased with the colorblind casting.

Chiklis says the controversy will be put to rest when people see the movie. "There's this scene where she dusts me off, and it turns into this sweet, sensual moment," he says. "I'm the Thing, I'm covered in latex, and yet you buy the romance! That's a big star."

The daughter of a college professor mom and real estate broker dad, Washington grew up traveling between worlds. She lived in the Bronx but crossed the bridge to attend the prestigious girls' school Spence on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "I was in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Gwyneth [Paltrow]," she says. "I played a fairy, and she was our queen. I doubt she remembers."

Now, Washington and her fiancé, actor David Moscow, have homes in Harlem and West Hollywood, Calif. When she's not walking her Shih Tzu-Yorkie mix, Josephine Baker, with Radiohead blasting on her iPod, Washington snuggles on the couch with a good non-fiction book or, lately, a script from her ever-growing pile. They've been arriving like home catalogs since she did Ray.

In March, Washington won an NAACP Image Award for her portrayal of Della Bea Robinson, Ray Charles' tolerant, churchgoing wife, in the hit movie. (Jamie Foxx, already an Oscar winner for Ray, also won.) And it was the real Della Bea who inspired Washington to keep perspective amid the acclaim. "I spent a lot of time having tea at her house," she says. "I learned she wasn't interested in being Mrs. Ray Charles. Ebony magazine wanted her to be the black Jackie O, but she just wanted to be a mom and a wife."

As for Washington, she just wants to be a busy, versatile actress. The job offers have been more diverse lately, but she still sees an uphill climb for black women in Hollywood. "I haven't done one interview where Halle Berry's Oscar win hasn't come up, and that was three years ago," she says. "That's a real testament to how much needs to change. I'm hopeful, but there's still a long way to go."

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How the actress makes a difference

Growing up in the Bronx, Washington took advantage of public arts programs. "Performing for me started as creative child care, because my parents worked full time. I used to dance ballet at Carnegie Hall and spend after school at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club," she says. "Had it not been for public arts funding, that wouldn't have happened." Today, Washington works with the Creative Coalition, a group of entertainers dedicated to increasing funding for arts education and awareness of First Amendment rights. This spring, she and other coalition members spoke to Congress as part of Arts Advocacy Day in Washington. See creativecoalition.org.