Kerry Washington: I Was Fired From Two TV Series Before 'Scandal'
The actress says she didn't fit into racial stereotypes in Hollywood.
— -- Kerry Washington may be one of TV's biggest stars today, but she faced adversity on her way to the top.
The actress said that before she landed the lead role on the ABC drama "Scandal," she was dropped from two TV series.
The reason? She didn't fit into racial stereotypes.
"Before 'Scandal,' I was actually cast in two other pilots. Both went to series, but I was fired and recast,” Washington said in an upcoming episode of Variety Studio: Actors on Actors. "For both it was because they wanted me to sound more 'girlfriend, more like 'hood,' more 'urban.'"
Washington made the comment in conversation with comedian and actor Aziz Ansari in the two-part fourth season premiere of the series which will air June 12 and June 19 on PBS SoCal. Ansari, who created his own Netflix show, "Master of None," agreed with her, saying that "every person that's not a straight, white guy has their version of this."
"A lot of other minority actors have told me, ‘Oh, this so rings a bell’ when you go into an audition room and you see a bunch of people that look like you and you just start feeling like, ‘Oh I’m not here [because of who I am]. I’m here because I fit what looks like the person they want in here," he said.
One solution, they agreed, was to create projects that they could be proud of.
“I definitely feel like I’m at that point where it’s nice to not have to sit at home and wait to be invited to the party, but to be creating work for yourself,” Washington said.
"You can't wait for anybody to open doors for you," Ansari added. "You've got to really create your own doors."