'Scandal,' Kerry Washington Calls Olivia Pope 'Glass Slipper' Of a Role

Kerry Washington has always deserved to be slightly more famous than she is. And with her role as Olivia Pope in Scandal it seems that she has finally found a role to break out of the black actress doldrums. Washington referred to the role of Pope-an intelligent, fleshed-out, black, femaled lead- as a 'glass slipper' in an interview with the Guardian:

"I read the Scandal script and I was like, 'Oh, I'm screwed. This is so good.' Then I got really scared, because I did feel like it was written for me; you know, in some divine way, this was mine. But there were 15 other actresses who felt the same. Shonda [Rimes] auditioned everyone and their mother, because for African American actresses this was the glass slipper - so she let everyone try it on."

While Scandal is the first network primetime drama to feature an African-American female at the center of the action in almost four decades (yes, you read that correctly) and Pope's blackness is not a central tenet of the show, Washington balked at the idea of the show being "post-racial" (and even the idea of a post-racial world in general.

"I don't believe in post-racial. It's like saying we should live in a post-gender world. But I love being a woman! I am interested in living in a post-sexist world and feel the same about race. I don't want to live in a post-race world because being black is really exciting. I mean" - she laughs - "it's who I am. I'm a woman, black, from New York, Aquarius - these are things that create who I am. I'm interested in living in a post-racist world, where being African American doesn't dictate limitations on what I can do - but I don't want to live post-race. Our differences are so fascinating and wonderful. We don't want to all be the same. Who wants that? Hitler did, but who else?"