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" I come from a family with a really strong work ethic - not just my parents, but my aunts, uncles and cousins. It rubbed off on me. I have a cousin in The Bronx who says I'm like the longshoreman of actors. I am a worker. "

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" I really love research. It's one of the things I love most about my job. I feel like it's me in the lab cooking up the character. "

Kerry Washington

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" I feel like any single woman of color who's been onstage has a Shakespeare monologue in her back pocket, and a monologue from 'For Colored Girls.' It's just part of what you should have, as a woman of color. "

" I didn't grow up thinking I was pretty; there was always a prettier girl than me. So I learned to be smart and tried to be funny and develop the inside of me, because I felt like that's what I had. "

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" I'm here not just as an actress but as a woman, an African-American, a granddaughter of Ellis Island immigrants, a person who could not have afforded college without the help of student loans and as one of millions of volunteers working to re-elect President Obama! "

" I really try to let my friends into all of my life. They know that Red-Carpet Kerry is a version of Kerry, and they know that DNC Speaker Kerry is me. "

Kerry Washington

Try

Life

" It's interesting how much people long to fill in the gaps when someone in the public eye doesn't share their personal life. I understand their frustration. "

" I come from the theater and I plan to always do theater. So I don't really see myself not being able to act even if people don't think I am sexy enough for film at 40, I'll still be acting. "

" For the red carpet, I'm totally a stiletto girl. But in the rest of my life, I'd say I'm 50/50. I love a good heel, but I also have a really great sneaker collection. That's the Bronx girl in me. "

" You know what's funny is that I have this ongoing relationship with the city of Washington D.C. I went to George Washington University, and my nickname was K-Dub - based on G-Dub - and I'm now on the board of trustees at George Washington University. "

" I think most people, when they think about the Black Panther Party, they think in very abstract, caricatured terms. They think about black fists in the air, but they don't think about the actual people, and the families, and the relationships. "

" I've never been comfortable being a pawn. I work with brands where I feel like I can have my say and companies that I'm proud to be in a relationship with. Partnerships take a lot of time. If I am going to put my name and my face and my energy behind something, I want it to be authentic. "

" I learned through experience that it doesn't work for me to talk about my personal life. I've had earlier times in my career when I did talk about it. "

Kerry Washington

Talk

Career

" I'm always working. My cousins call me the longshoreman of actors. "

Kerry Washington

Always

Call

" I always prided myself on the fact that I could live out of milk crates forever. It was kind of my way of detaching from materialism. "

" My mother is one of seven kids, so I have a lot of strong women in my family, and I have supportive, beautiful relationships with all of them. "

" Shoes define how you walk in the world and how you stand: like, what is your posture in life? "

" That's what acting is - it's about... having the courage to allow your audience into the private moments of your characters' lives. "

" I don't want to not be African. The goal is to live in a world where my race doesn't limit my access, where I can see myself represented in the highest level of society without any limitation. "

" I come from film, where I only play a character for three months at a time, and then it's done, so it's important for me to be able to put on other hats and make sure that all of the tools in my toolbox that don't apply to Olivia Pope are still in shape. "

" I have to make sure that I don't silence myself about the things that I believe in, because sometimes the fear creeps in of 'What if fewer people watch the show or fewer people hire me because I express my politics?' For me, the commitment is to never be quiet just because I'm in the public eye. "

" I think as a whole America is dealing with the issue of homophobia. We got to be really honest about whether we believe in civil rights for all people or not. As Black people we need to remember the moment that we say it's okay to disenfranchise one segment of society, we're opening the door to move backward on ourselves. "

" When you have things that are very important to you in life, when there are things you want to do and be - that takes work. It takes work to show up for your own story and show up for the dream and vision you have for yourself. "

" I don't think I'm even close to fulfilling my potential. And I think also that, unlike a pianist or a flutist, an actor has an instrument that is constantly changing. "

" As a young girl, my real dream was to be the woman in the shows at SeaWorld. "

" I'm doing this play right now, the new David Mamet play. It's called 'Race,' and it's very interesting how people really leave the theater filled with the desire to talk about the play and the issues and the characters, and how they're all navigating their personal views around race. "

" I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor, so I come from a very academic background. I love writing, you know? "

" I don't talk about my personal life in the press; that's how I kept my wedding a secret. "

" I have girlfriends in this business who talk about their personal lives, and it works for them, and I love it. But not for me. "

Kerry Washington

Talk

Personal

" When I read 'Ray' for the first time, I had just quit. When I read 'The Last King of Scotland,' I had just quit. I hadn't quite quit when I read 'Scandal,' but I was feeling really unfulfilled as an actor. "

" Earlier in my career, I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn't have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they're in, and you don't get to say, 'Oh, I want this for myself.' "