Longtime movie and show watchers know Kerry Washington from the several roles she’s taken on portraying strong, beautiful women. Though best known as Olivia Pope in Shonda Rhimes’ Scandal, her appearance in Save the Last Dance is still recognized as a fan favorite. She also starred in I Think I Love My Wife, Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls and Django Unchained alongside Jamie Foxx. Additionally, Washington has executive produced Little Fires Everywhere and Unprisoned, both of which she starred in. As 2024 comes to a close with major film releases like The Six Triple Eight hitting theaters, movie lovers are curious how Kerry Washington amassed her impressive net worth throughout her rise to fame.
Get To Know Kerry Washington
Washington was born to her mother, a professor and education consultant, and her father, a real estate broker in The Bronx, New York. She began acting as a teen, performing with the TADA! Youth Theater group in the Big Apple. From there, she attended George Washington University, majoring in anthropology and sociology. The wife, mother and actress would eventually book her first role in an ABC telefilm called Magical-Make-Over. Washington would make several appearances in films and television series before her stage debut on Broadway in David Mamet’s Race. After achieving the lead role in Scandal, the entertainer brought Pope to life for six seasons.
Kerry Washinton later returned to Broadway in 2018 for American Son and continues to work with longtime collaborators like Perry. In her most recent role as Charity Adams in the famed director’s The Six Triple Eight, she embodies a strength similar to that of Pope and her other popular characters. Adams is an army commander who leads an all-female, all-African-American battalion of 855 soldiers toward executing the task at hand efficiently and ahead of schedule.
Other Noteworthy Accolades
The 47-year-old maintains a busy life away from the lights and action. She married football player and actor Nnamdi Asomugha in 2013, becoming a stepmother to his daughter from a past relationship. The couple shares two young children of their own, though 21Ninety notes they prefer to keep the kids out of the public eye. Around the same time she tied the knot, Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts by George Washington University which she proudly puts to use as a hard-working icon in the entertainment industry.
On top of these accolades, the black-haired beauty brought home an NAACP Image Award and was dubbed TV Guide’s Favorite Actress of 2013. This was one of the biggest years of her career as Kerry Washington was the first Black actress since Cicely Tyson in 1995 to be nominated for a Lead Actress Primetime Emmy. Elsewhere, the East Coast icon is a noted activist and supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights. She received the GLAAD Vanguard Award in March 2015 and is a member of the Creative Coalition and of V-Day, a global campaign created to increase awareness about violence against women and girls. While philanthropy may or may not contribute to Kerry Washington’s net worth, it’s at least part of why fans adore her.
What Is Kerry Washington’s Net Worth?
As far as other revenue streams go, Kerry Washington has maintained endorsements with companies like Neutrogena, Apple and Movado in the last decade. Through her work on Little Fires Everywhere (in which she co-stars opposite Reese Witherspoon for eight episodes), the mother of three joined an exclusive club of actors in becoming one more to earn $1 million per appearance.
In her personal life, Washington has purchased several properties with her husband for their family. The entertainer still owns her New York City apartment and Asomugha his Manhattan Beach townhome, which they purchased separately before meeting. Altogether, through her acting roles, production through her company, Simpson Street and other ventures, the actress has achieved a net worth of $50 million.
