Kerry Washington Covers the March Issue of ESSENCE

“I think it’s a really special time to be a woman of color in this business. The landscape of who has the power is changing. We are in more influential positions and are able to have a say in the stories that are told. I feel very lucky to be in the business now…”—Kerry Washington
 
Kerry Washington is bringing it. As the star of ABC’s greatly anticipated show Scandal (which debuts next month) Kerry will become the only Black actress to lead a drama based on a real-life black woman — high-profile crisis management adviser Judy Smith — in a prime-time TV series created by another powerful Black woman in Hollywood: producer Shonda Rhimes. In “Power Players,” a few of Black Hollywood’s leading ladies talk uncensored to ESSENCE about men, money, power and respect in Tinseltown.

ESSENCE’s annual “Black Women in Hollywood” March issue also pays homage to this year’s ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon honorees: Kerry, Shonda, Octavia Spencer, Paula Patton and Pam Grier. The 5th annual luncheon takes place February 23rd at the Beverly Hills Hotel.