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If there's one thing people know about Shonda Rhimes, it's that she's highly capable of creating gripping television for a wide audience. As the mastermind behind the likes of 'How To Get Away With Murder', 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Scandal', the television writer has shot herself right into the hearts of millions of TV viewers across the globe, bringing relatable and inspirational characters to the small screen.

Kerry Washington at the premiere for Disney film 'Cars 3'

One of those characters is 'Scandal' lead Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. Introduced back in 2012, viewers learned that this former White House Communications Director wasn't somebody you'd want to cross, but somebody who would be brilliantly loyal and trustworthy if you got on her right side.

Continue reading: Kerry Washington Teases Final 'Scandal' Season

After facing severe criticism for the lack of diversity earlier this season, Saturday Night Live is finally taking steps to hire an African American female cast member. The long-running sketch comedy held auditions on Monday night, during which seven or eight candidates performed. One or two comediennes will be hired and will join the cast for shows in January.

Pharaoh (l) and Thompson (r) brought attention to the show's lack of diversity this year.

The woman or women will be the first black comedienne(s) on SNL since Maya Rudolph's departure in 2007. As a few clever sketches from the Kerry Washington episode pointed out, SNL desperately needs the additions. The barrage of criticism was set off by the show's black cast members, who put the diversity issue at the forefront this year. Jay Pharaoh said that SNL needed to "follow up" on the promise to bring in a black woman and Kenan Thompson refused to do drag and perform any more parodies of black women.

Continue reading: SNL Holding Auditions To Recruit Its Very First Black Female Cast Member Since 2007

The nominations for the 2014 Golden Globe Awards were revealed this week and although there were few surprises in the movie nominations; in the television categories however, it's time for change in the established order of critically-acclaimed TV. Former nomination regulars like Mad Men and Homefront are nowhere to be seen in the nominees lists, replaced instead by the new order of critically-acclaimed shows.

Master of Sex, along with House of Cards, is now the show to beat

Master of Sex and House of Cards now look like the shows to beat, with Breaking Bad making what will be its final appearance at the Golden Globes with the series ending this year. This comes just a year after Homeland achieved the impressive feat of winning Best Drama Series, Best Male Actor and Best Female Actor all in one night, although this does mark the second year in a row that the 2007-2009 winner Mad Men has not appeared in the Best Drama category.

Continue reading: Golden Globes 2014 Celebrates New Shows Over The Old As Television Nominations Are Revealed

They had to do it. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity for SNL to address the diversity issue than a guest appearance by Kerry Washington. SNL fans were eager to see how the show would tackle its obvious lack of black comediennes with a prominent diversity advocate (not to mention an exceptional actress) like Washington on board. They were not disappointed.

Washington had to play both the First Lady, Oprah and a whole host of other celebrities.

So you know how people have been complaining that the lack of a black comedienne severely limits the cast’s topical sketches? The two main examples were Oprah and Michelle Obama – with noone to impersonate them, SNL has missed some golden opportunities over the past six years (the last time Michelle Obama was featured in a skit, she was played by Maya Rudolph in 2007). Not last night though, because Washington was on a mission to perform all the sketches! All the sketches that SNL hasn’t done due to casting limitations. The writers didn’t waste any time and the Scandal actress came out as the first lady at the very beginning of the episode causing President Obama (Jay Pharoah) to remark, "I feel like it's been years since I've seen you!" See what they did there?

Continue reading: Last Night's SNL Featured The Neglected Characters - All Of Them, Played By Kerry Washington

American actress, Kerry Washington, is expecting her first baby with husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, according to Us Weekly.

The news comes four months after Washington and the San Francisco 49ers star secretly married on June 24 in Blaine County, Idaho.

A friend of the 36 year-old told the mag, "She's about four months along," and so far Washington has managed to hide any hint of a baby bump from the public eye, she seems to have a knack for keeping secrets!

Continue reading: 'Scandal' Star Kerry Washington Is "Four Months" Pregnant With First Child

Kerry Washington has been killing it lately – the newly pregnant star is doing great both in her personal and her professional life, with an upcoming SNL hosting gig to look forward to. In the promos, Washington and Taran Killam riff off each other on topics like Scandal, Eminem’s special performing style (the rapper will be the musical guest during the episode) and of course, that ever touchy subject – Washington’s body.

Washington looked glamorous as ever, promoting her SNL episode.

To be fair, the actress isn’t showing any sort of baby bump and looks killer in a purple ensemble (and matching lipstick.) Killam on the other hand, has opted for the traditional uniform – patterned shirt and neutral cardigan. But enough about the clothes, let’s talk about the controversy.

Continue reading: Glowing Kerry Washington Promotes Her Very First SNL Hosting Gig

With the launch of its new Affordable Care Act (ACA), AKA Obamacare, The White House needed a little help making the information of its new healthcare scheme accessible. Realising most youngsters spend their time of the internet these days, White House officials invited a group of celebrities to sit and discuss ways of communicating the aims and benefits of Obamacare through pop culture.

Jennifer Hudson Used Her Talents As Actress & Comedian To Help Educate People.

Jennifer Hudson, Amy Poehler, and representatives for both Alicia Keys and Oprah Winfrey headed to The White House to form strategies of introducing Obamacare to the younger generations without making it seem like a lecture.

Continue reading: Jennifer Hudson Spoof's Kerry Washington's 'Scandal' In Support Of Obamacare [Video]

Friends actress Lisa Kudrow has been picked for a recurring role in ABC's smash-hit drama Scandal and it is being speculated that she will play a politician in the White House. In other words, it's safe to say we won't be hearing any 'Smelly Cat' renditions coming from the serious political series' new recruit.

Expect To See The Friends Actress Gracing TV Screen Once More This Fall.

Scandal's third season will debut on 3rd October on ABC and will further follow the story of political fixer Olivia Pope, who is played by the Emmy-nominated Kerry Washington. The show focusses on Pope's crisis management firm and its involvement in White House government affairs.

Continue reading: Lisa Kudrow Lands Role In Scandal's Third Season

It's been a great year for Kerry Washington: the last twelve months have seen the actress star in gritty slavery western Django Unchained alongside Jamie Foxx, take on a lighter role as daughter Grace in romantic comedy The Peeples, and most importantly has seen her ABC political TV drama Scandal take off.

Newlywed Kerry Washington Glowing After Her Emmy Nomination.

The cerebral TV drama focusses on Washington as 'fixer' Olivia Pope - an expert in crisis management - who identifies problems of the powerful and even the president and makes them go away before anyone else knows they exist; always following Pope's strong gut instinct. After discovering she was in line to scoop a 'best actress' Emmy, Washington told The Daily Mail "I'm the luckiest broad in showbiz. I just feel really blessed and humbled and grateful for this nomination," adding "I'm going to celebrate with my Scandal family after we have our table read today."

Continue reading: Kerry Washington Is "Luckiest Broad In Showbiz" After Emmy Nomination And Marriage

Kerry Washington discussed her recent marriage and Emmy nominations on Thursday (18th July). The actress was nominated for her first Primetime Emmy.

Kerry Washington at the 2013 CFDA Awards, New York.

Washington has been nominated for the Primetime Emmys in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The drama series in question is ABC's Scandal. Washington plays Olivia Pope, head of a crisis management firm, who works with the US government covering up various indiscretions. The show has had two successful seasons and is currently filming the third. Washington will return to our screens for season 3 of Scandal on Thursday 3rd October. 

Continue reading: Kerry Washington Scandal Emmy Award Nomination Marriage

The ratings from TV finale week are in and, as you might expect, it’s looking good for the last ever (tear) episode of The Office and CBS’s Scandal, while good ol’ American Idol takes its deepest plunge yet. According to USA Today, the singing competition, which crowned Candice Glover as the winner, drew in only 14.3 million viewers for Fox, less than half of its peak audience of 36+ million, who tuned in to the 2005 finale. At this point things are looking bleak for Idol, which is even trailing behind CBS’s Big Bang Theory. That show broadcast to 14.8 million. Some frontrunners in the newcomer category included ABC’s political drama Scandal, starring Kerry Washington. The series managed to draw in 9.1 million for its second season finale.

And last but not least of course there was The Office. The much beloved sitcom has never quite had a viewership on the scale of a talent competition. Still, with its extended 75-minute finale, which saw the return of Steve Carell and prompted a lot of nostalgia, The Office bowed out with 5.7 million people watching. All in all, though, it’s been an underwhelming season for television. Perhaps online productions of the kind Netflix has been working on this past year really are the way forward.

The almost identical ratings, which spell doom for Idol, mean that BBT is flying high.

Spoiler alert.

TV season finales are abundant this week, but a particularly painful one has to be that of Scandal. The second season of the ABC series ended with a lot of drama, so pretty much the way it began. Fair warning though, this recap will contain spoilers for the finale.

DAD? Is it true? Is Rowan really Olivia’s father? Of course it’s true, this particular plot twist surprised very few people, as some fans guessed it as soon as Rowan (aka Mystery Man) showed up earlier this season.

Continue reading: Scandal Season 2 Closes With Big Revelations All Round

Peeples Poster

Tyler Perry’s conveyor belt of movies has thrown up another light-hearted comedy, this time in the form of Peeples, directed by Tina Gordon Chism and starring Django Unchained star Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson. It centers around a well-off East Coast family celebrating a reunion weekend in the Hamptons. However, the retreat is interrupted when their daughter Grace’s (Washington) fiance Wade (Robinson) crashes the party to announce their surprise engagement.

Watch the Peeples trailer!

Continue reading: Django’s Kerry Washington Stars In Tyler Perry’s 'Peeples' [Trailer And Pictures]

Academy Snub For Bigelow, Django Scores Five Oscar And 5 Bafta Nominations And Robot & Frank Trailer Delights

The big movie news this week, of course, was the announcement of this year's Oscar nominations, to which people reacted with the usual levels of surprise and anger. The biggest snub seems to be for previous winner Kathryn Bigelow, who was overlooked for a directing nomination even though her film Zero Dark Thirty earned five other nods, including Best Picture. 

Continue reading: A Week In Movies Feat: Academy Snub For Bigelow, Django Scores Five Oscar And 5 Bafta Nominations And Robot & Frank Trailer Delights

Movie director Quentin Tarantino has defended violence in movies following Friday's school shootings in Newton, Connecticut, which left 26 dead. The Django Unchained director said he was tired of defending his films each time the U.S. is shaken by gun violence, saying, "tragedies happen," reports BBC News.

His lead actor Jamie Foxx said big screen violence can certainly influence people, telling press at a junket in New York, "We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn't have a sort of influence. It does." Django Unchained follows the story of a slave living in the Deep South, who sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner, played by Leonardo Dicaprio. Kerry Washington - who plays Foxx's on-screen wife - said, "I do think that it's important when we have the opportunity to talk about violence and not just kind of have it as entertainment, but connect it to the wrongs, the injustices, the social ills." 20 children and six women died in the assault on Sandy Hook school by a lone gunman - thought to be Adam Lanza, 20 - last week. He shot dead his mother before driving to the school in her car.

Premieres for Tom Cruise's new violent action flick Jack Reacher were cancelled in light of the events in Newton, while the Fox network cancelled forthcoming episodes of Family Guy and American Dad.

Continue reading: Quentin Tarantino On Newton School Massacre: "Tragedies Happen"

Well, it was about time. The school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that occurred on Friday and, as the nation mourns the victims, the debates about violence in the media are just beginning.

The latest person to comment on this is actor Jamie Foxx, who, a bit ironically, stars in Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming flick about slavery, which will feature quite a lot of explicit and violent scenes. While promoting the film on Saturday, the star braved the difficult topic, saying that Hollywood can no longer ignore the fact that on-screen violence influences people on some level.

"We cannot turn our back and say that violence in films or anything that we do doesn't have a sort of influence. It does," Fox said in an interview. Meanwhile, director Quentin Tarantino, who is known for his extremely violent and gory scenes, which are all part of his signature style, is once again struggling to defend his artistic freedom. Tarantino went on a bit of a tangent, explaining that he was tired of defending his films each time the nation was shocked by gun violence. He stated that “tragedies happen” and that blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.

Continue reading: Newtown Shooting Reaction: Jamie Foxx, Quentin Tarantino On Violence And The Film Industry

In a recent interview about forthcoming film Django Unchained, actor Jamie Foxx has admitted that “it’s always racial” as a black person. The quote comes in reference to the fact that some of the black community have criticized Quentin Tarantino’s spaghetti western for not taking issues of slavery seriously enough in the film.

Foxx plays leading character Django, a man set free from slavery in order to work as a bounty hunter, as part of a deal that sees his buyer agree to help him find his lost wife; he told Vibe Magazine “as black folks we're always sensitive. As a black person it's always racial.” He added “I come into this place to do a photo shoot and they got Ritz crackers and cheese. I'll be like, ain't this a b*tch. Y'all didn't know black people was coming. What's with all this white sh*t? By the same token, if there is fried chicken and watermelon I'll say ain't this a b*tch? So, no matter what we do as black people it's always gonna be that. Every single thing in my life is built around race.”

Foxx was joined by Kerry Washington for the interview, and she said that, whilst it was clear to point out that it was a film, a work of fiction, there was no denying that they’d tried to treat slavery with as much truth as possible. “I remember there was this one moment in the script where Jamie's character was put in an awful crazy medieval metal mask” she commented. “I said, ‘That's some sick thing Quentin thought up.' And when I went to the production office to meet about my wardrobe, I saw into the research office. Twenty photos of real masks like that. It made me sad.”