Kerry Washington –  2013 George Washington University: “The Power of Your Storyâ€
Award winning actress Kerry Washington shared her perspectives on how acting reflects real life.
“When I arrived at GW, I didn’t think I would be an actor. I dreamt of being a psychologist or an educator like my mother. From an early age, I was fascinated with people and how we become who we are, but acting? That was a hobby. … I designed an interdisciplinary major in various social sciences: psychology, sociology, history, and anthropology, and one of the things that fascinated me most was the importance of storytelling. In every culture and at every moment of human existence, the ritual of storytelling has been a central tenet of our experience because it is through stories that we understand ourselves and each other. When we engage in a great story, whether it’s a novel or a film or a documentary, we learn something more about who we are. … As we journey along with the hero of any story, we realized that we, too, are the lead characters of our own lives.â€