Kerry Washington rarely plays it safe with her roles. The Emmy-winning actor is perhaps best known for her six years playing Olivia Pope, a talented professional in charge of extinguishing political fires in Shonda Rhimes’ hit series Scandal, a role that set her up for a career playing nuanced characters battling more than meets the eye. Starring in everything from Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning western Django Unchained to Reese Witherspoon’s TV adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere, Washington has proven herself a versatile and impactful star.
Now she’s taking on a war drama in Netflix film The Six Triple Eight, which tells the true story of America’s only women’s army corps unit of colour in the Second World War. Written and directed by Hollywood heavyweight Tyler Perry, ‘a dear friend’ who she’s known for over a decade, she says, ‘I really trust him and I think that’s one of the reasons why I felt like I could push myself as an actor to take on a performance that’s so unlike anything I’ve ever done before.’
Washington – who is also a producer on the film – portrays real-life army officer Charity Adams, the unit’s stoic and assertive leader, who endures relentless racism from the military. Washington plays Adams as a tough but protective figure to the younger soldiers in her charge.
‘Charity Adams struck me as having a different kind of power to that I’ve ever been able to play before,’ the 47-year-old actor says. ‘I’ve played really iconic characters, like Olivia Pope and Broomhilda [in Django Unchained], and so I felt like if I do this film and people are watching my performance and they think about Kerry Washington, or they think about Olivia Pope, then I’m really doing a disservice to the legacy of Charity Adams and these women.’
She and Perry spoke to Lena Derriecott, one of the last few remaining women from the Six Triple Eight, to help depict Major Adams on screen, with Washington adapting her voice, posture and walk to more authentically portray the war hero.
The Six Triple Eight honours this group of mostly Black women but it’s also a story for everyone, says Washington. It’s for anyone ‘who feels underestimated, marginalised or doubted, or even anybody who has doubts about themselves’. The film is a ‘call to believe in yourself and your capacity to do great things’, she says. It’s also a reminder of ‘how much gratitude we need to have for the people who have fought to maintain democracy and freedom all over the world’.
One such woman? Mary McLeod Bethune, one of the most important Black educators, civil and women’s rights leaders and American Government officials, who is played by none other than Oprah Winfrey in The Six Triple Eight.
‘I really adore Oprah,’ Washington says, her face lighting up. ‘I’ve known her for a long time, so it was fun to be an executive producer on a project that she was working on. On the day she was on set, I was like, “What do you need? Can I get you anything? Are you feeling good?” I just really tried to take care of her.
‘Mary McLeod Bethune was thought of as one of our most exceptional Black women – she was the best of us – and I think we think of Oprah in that way too, so it felt right.’
When Washington – who will star in the third instalment of the blockbuster whodunnit franchise Knives Out next year – first took on the role of Olivia Pope back in 2012, she made headlines as the first Black woman to play a lead character on a network drama in 40 years. ‘That kind of thing isn’t news any more,’ she notes. ‘For a woman of colour to be the lead on a show is not news and I think that’s fantastic.’
Still, Washington credits Pope for who she is today, saying the character taught her about fashion, friendship, leadership and love. She even pitched a book on the life lessons she learned from her, which then became her 2023 memoir, Thicker Than Water. ‘She changed my life, changed my heart and transformed my career.’
As for what has changed since she first joined Scandal over a decade ago, she says despite the industry’s ‘ebbs and flows’ there are ‘far more opportunities now than there were when I was in my twenties’.
She’s excited by the new wave of talent making their mark and is especially proud of The Six Triple Eight, ‘a film where we are presenting so many extraordinary young Black actresses to the world’.
Part of the goal of fighting for better representation, she says, is to ensure Black women can just be, without being ground-breakers or record-breakers. That we can just be excellent because we are not beating down doors and breaking glass ceilings’.
Stream ‘The Six Triple Eight’ on Netflix now
PHOTOS: LIZ COLLINS/TRUNK ARCHIVE. STYLIST: NATASHA ROYT. HAIR: TAKISHA STURDIVANT-DREW. MAKE-UP: CAROLA GONZALEZ. NAILS: KIM TRUONG.