Kerry Washington
Washington in 2011, photo by Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Kerry Marisa Washington
Place of Birth: The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: January 31, 1977
Ethnicity: African-American, African-Jamaican [African, as well as some English, Scottish, Native American]
Kerry Washington is an American actress, producer, and director. She is known for her roles in the films Our Song, Save the Last Dance, Bad Company (2002), The Human Stain, Against the Ropes, She Hate Me, Ray (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fantastic Four (2005), and its sequel; Little Man, The Last King of Scotland, The Dead Girl, I Think I Love My Wife, Miracle at St. Anna, Lakeview Terrace, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Mother and Child, Night Catches Us, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, The Details, A Thousand Words, Django Unchained, Peeples, Cars 3, in voice role; American Son (as well as the play that inspired it); The Prom (2020), and The School for Good and Evil; on the series Scandal and Little Fires Everywhere; and in the made-for-tv movie Confirmation.
She is the daughter of Valerie (Moss), an educational consultant and professor, and Earl Washington, a real estate broker. Kerry was conceived via sperm donor, something she only discovered as a 41 year-old in 2018. Her biological father was black. Earl Washington is from an African-American family. Her mother’s family is Jamaican, from St. Elizabeth, of mostly African-Jamaican background. A picture of Kerry with her parents can be seen below.
Kerry is married to professional football player, actor, and producer Nnamdi Asomugha, with whom she has two children. Nnamdi’s family is Nigerian, of Igbo background.
In an article at Standard.co.uk, Kerry stated about her background:
My mother comes from a mixed-race background but from Jamaica, so she is partly English and Scottish and native American, but also descended from African slaves in the Caribbean. My [legal] dad’s family is four or five generations Brooklyn-based, but before that from South Carolina, and we are not sure which members of his family were slaves and which were free blacks.
She has said that her mother is a cousin of U.S. General and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
One of Kerry’s grandmothers is named Isabelle.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com
https://people.com
Kerry with her parents Earl and Valerie in 2013; photo by Prphotos
You can be dark and still be mixed. I’m shocked at the ignorance displayed on this site. Not all mixed people are light, you can tell Kerry has mixed ancestry.
I hate when people put emphases on a Black celeb being mixed with somthing else. Um, last time i checked most Black Americans have admixture. We’re all mixed.
Some more mixed than others. And if someone has other ethnic groups they should acknowledge it. I am Black, English, Scottish and Navajo American and proud. Should I ignore my other 3 ethnic groups and just claim to be black? I’m ashamed of who I am so why should I? I am black. But I’m also European and native.
Honestly I don’t know why she even mentioned the English, Scottish and Native American, that’s what most African Americans have about 200 years ago. I guarantee her English, Scottish, Native American was about 250 years ago. My grandmother has native American and grandfather has British but I look black, so whats the point. I do not even bring it up, I think it begins to look foolish, everyones mixed. Honestly, I think Kerry is trying to add some false “exoticness” to herself.
Honey, take a DNA test. Some people haven’t had a white ancestor in over 100 years, but could still come out 20-35% European, etc. Why? Because they are a multi-generational mixed person. Some of this stuff builds up overtime because everybody in your family had a little bit of it too. Almost all Black people of the Americas are mixed. It’s just a fact of life.
@Sully, you just said the EXACT same thing I said, re-read my post
@Sully, I am very aware of that but I don’t think its true in Kerry Washingtons case
thank you sully, for being smart
beaitfull mouth
She tries too hard to act and look white. Look at pictures of her when she was younger, she looks more ethnic and black. Now she’s trying to be a white woman. Her obvious nose job and cheek implants display that. She is not all that and her character on Scandal is degrading to black women.
In fact a new magazine cover of her is being accused of making her lighter and whiter looking. Some people just cannot accept a pretty black woman just as she is.
http://bossip.com/1099936/who-dis-woman-kerry-washington-looks-lighter-badly-photoshopped-on-march-instyle-cover/
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/kerry-washington-my-mom-cried-about-my-acting-career-2014259