This story first appeared in the June 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
The only thing lacking in The Hollywood Reporter’s kickoff Emmy Roundtable event held April 6 in Hollywood was, well, drama. The six women who gathered to talk on a sunny Saturday afternoon — Connie Britton, 46 (ABC’s Nashville), Anna Gunn, 44 (AMC’s Breaking Bad), Kate Mara, 30 (Netflix’s House of Cards), Elisabeth Moss, 30 (AMC’s Mad Men, Sundance’s Top of the Lake), Monica Potter, 41 (NBC’s Parenthood), and Kerry Washington, 36 (ABC’s Scandal) — chatted with such relaxed candor about their lives and work, it was easy to forget they headline some of the most dramatic series on television. Between trading war stories about terrible jobs, wearing Spanx to auditions, their confusion over social media and one’s utter love for Cheez Whiz, these ladies launched THR’s Emmy Roundtable Series 2013.
The Hollywood Reporter: What was the worst job you had while trying to become an actress?
Washington: It wasn’t one of my worst jobs, but I used to be a substitute teacher for New York City schools. It was great and hard, and I even did it after I started working in films. But I had to stop after I did Save the Last Dance because the students were like, “Chenille is substituting!”
THR: Last year, January Jones told THR a story about her audition for Coyote Ugly during which Jerry Bruckheimer told her she was a terrible dancer. What’s your worst audition?
Washington: It’s a little bit different for me because I’ll audition for something and they’ll just decide that they’re not going “ethnic” with a character, which I hear a lot.
THR: Casting directors still use the word “ethnic”?
Washington: If not “black,” then yeah. People have artistic license … that’s what casting is: fitting the right look to the right character. Whereas you could maybe lose some weight, there’s not really anything I can do, nor would I want to, about being black.
THR: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get a role?
Washington: I’ve written a lot of letters to directors.
Washington: It has only worked one time.
Potter: Do you send it to their house?
Washington: The production office, or whatever.
Moss: You could take it to their house, show real passion.
Washington: Boom box over my head!
Washington: But when you look back, don’t you feel like there is a logic to how things have fallen into place? Like, if only I could have known then what I know now, I would have cried a lot less! Those heartbreak moments. Before Scandal, the only other two pilots I’d ever done were shows that got picked up, but I got fired. They recast my character on both shows.
Washington: But if I had gotten picked up on one of them, I wouldn’t have been able to do Ray. You know what I mean? It seems at the time like a my-career-is-over moment, but it makes perfect sense in the end.
THR: Kerry, you’ve been pretty active politically. Have you experienced any career blowback or any negative reaction to that kind of stuff?
Washington: I come from a family where people really participate in the democratic process. I don’t think that being an actor should prevent me from continuing to do the things I do. A lot of people fought for me to have the right as a woman to be able to participate, and as a person of color, and so I don’t want my acting to get in the way of that. I do it as an American. And blowback? Absolutely. After I spoke at the Democratic National Convention — our show has a very active life on Twitter and Facebook — I couldn’t go near any of it because there were threats to my life, sexism and racism. It was shocking that me speaking at a convention incited all this anger. Thank God for block on Twitter!
THR: What were they angry about, specifically? Just the audacity of an actor speaking at the convention?
Washington: I guess so, and also disagreeing with my views, which I totally think is great. I would never block somebody for disagreeing with me. But the threats to my life … that’s not so good.
THR: Scandal has had a lot of success engaging viewers on Twitter. Kerry, do you feel that the personal involvement with fans is a good thing?
Washington: Yeah. I mean, you read the good stuff. … But I don’t tweet about my personal life. I don’t tweet things that are about me.
Washington: I work with a woman who is a digital social media consultant because I was terrified to go on Twitter. She helped me to figure out how to engage — as an actor — to promote the work without promoting myself. It’s scary. It’s this whole other universe.
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Source: THR
