Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo Enter Their Sitcom Era With ‘UnPrisoned’
Television has become a lot more colorful over the past decade, since critics declared a new Golden Age. One of the many pioneers associated with that revolution is Kerry Washington.
After appearing in a number of films like Save The Last Dance, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and I Think I Love My Wife, the Bronx native was catapulted into global fame as the ultimate fixer Olivia Pope on ABC’s Scandal. It was the first time a Black woman led a primetime network drama since 1975 when Teresa Graves starred in ABC’s Get Christie Love!, a rather embarrassing statistic. The series also marked another smash hit for Shonda Rhimes, one of the few Black, female showrunners thriving in TV at the time.
Since then, Washington has starred in the critically acclaimed Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere, which she also executive produced. By the time that show arrived in 2020, Washington’s success as a dramatic TV actress and producer felt less like an anomaly and more like an increasing norm for women of color in front of and behind the camera.