Olivia Washington – daughter of Hollywood actor Denzel Washington – has said in past interviews that she was a shy child. But if there’s any modicum of wallflower left in her, she’s definitely making the wrong career choices. Not only was her 2023 show – an absurdist comedy called I’m a Virgo that saw her acting mostly with a puppet – the talk of the town, but her new theatre work Slave Play is causing no end of controversy.
Written by Jeremy O. Harris – who some will recognise as petulant fashion designer Grégory Duprée from Emily in Paris – Slave Play is centred on three interracial couples and their ideas of race, sexuality and identity. It garnered a record number of Tony nominations after its initial Broadway run, and has just opened in London.
When the UK organisers declared that two nights of the 12-week run would be “Black Out” nights for Black theatregoers, even the country’s former prime minister Rishi Sunak weighed in, calling the idea “concerning” and “divisive”. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Actor and playwright Jeremy O.
Harris wrote Slave Play and will reappear in the upcoming season of Emily in Paris. Photo: @estreetprods/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/44e3dce6-0aa5-4ebf-9bcc-ad679b183570_de019856.jpg"} Actor and playwright Jeremy O. Harris wrote Slave Play and will reappear in the upcoming season of Emily in Paris.
Photo: @estreetprods/Instagram “I think ...
creating an environment where people feel welcome is important,” Washington hit back while speaking to Vogue. She’s standing her ground on the play’s highly provocative subject nature too. “Isn’t that what art is supposed to do?” she told the Sunday Times.
“It’s supposed to challenge the norm. It’s not supposed to necessarily make you comfortable.” So aside from her passion for tricky projects, what else do you need to know about Olivia Washington? Olivia Washington is a twin {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Denzel and Pauletta Washington with their four children: Olivia, Katia, Malcolm and John David. Photo: @afrocentricfilmscollabor/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/d13bcda4-b6c4-432c-a6bc-b52c4b31732a_de019856.jpg"} Denzel and Pauletta Washington with their four children: Olivia, Katia, Malcolm and John David. Photo: @afrocentricfilmscollabor/Instagram Olivia Washington was born alongside her twin brother Malcolm in 1991 to Training Day actor Denzel Washington and singer and actress Pauletta Washington.
The twins are the youngest of the Washingtons’ four children, who include 40-year-old Blackkklansman actor John David , and 37-year-old producer Katia. A talented basketball player, Malcolm went on to study film before getting into producing and directing like his father, per People magazine. She overcame her shyness through dancing {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Despite her acting achievements, Olivia Washington was surprisingly a shy child. Photo: @estreetprods/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/27319659-f9ff-4c11-bc30-408261c29c68_de019856.jpg"} Despite her acting achievements, Olivia Washington was surprisingly a shy child. Photo: @estreetprods/Instagram Washington told WWD that she credits her Juilliard-graduate mother with bringing her out of her shell by sending her to dance classes as a child.
And they weren’t just any old dance classes, as Washington is the daughter of two Hollywood stars, but ones taught by acclaimed choreographer Eartha Robinson and actor Vernee Watson. “The wild thing is, I was very shy,” Washington said. “They really just pushed that door open, because they saw something [in me].
” What else has Olivia Washington been in? {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Olivia Washington as superhuman speedy burger-flipper Flora in I’m A Virgo. Photo: @makeupincinema/Instagram","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/ba36ce5d-25ab-427c-8057-1ba40813e3f4_de019856.jpg"} Olivia Washington as superhuman speedy burger-flipper Flora in I’m A Virgo.
Photo: @makeupincinema/Instagram After graduating from NYU with a drama degree in 2013, she began getting parts in TV shows such as Empire , Madoff and Mr Robot , but it’s only more recently that her choices have begun to garner more attention. In 2022, she played John Boyega’s anguished wife in crime film Breaking, and then came I’m a Virgo . She doesn’t want to take on uninspired roles {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Olivia Washington with her co-star Kit Harington. Photo: @knackeredmother/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/36b01be8-1463-4df1-a3e2-8b205e006899_de019856.jpg"} Olivia Washington with her co-star Kit Harington. Photo: @knackeredmother/Instagram Since starring in I’m a Virgo as the superhuman love interest of a 396cm (13-foot) tall giant, Washington said it gave her “a deep desire to continue to tell stories at this kind of level”.
She added, “You can’t make me go back to the one-dimensional female role. Don’t make me go back.” Her desire from this point on, she told Elle, is to “work with incredibly talented up-and-coming or established writer-directors”.
She’s seeking opportunities to work with other Black women in film too. What has she said about nepotism? {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Hollywood star Denzel Washington with his two daughters Katia and Olivia.
Photo: @denzelonly/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/07/3ff5c093-7fd1-4ec9-ab87-8ae9abd955c2_de019856.
jpg"} Hollywood star Denzel Washington with his two daughters Katia and Olivia. Photo: @denzelonly/Instagram With both parents and all three siblings in the industry in one way or another, Washington says she nevertheless had a “very normal” childhood. “I wouldn’t say I grew up in the industry.
My parents were in it, but I went to school, I had after-school activities,” she told the New York Amsterdam News. But when asked whether she was a nepo baby by the Sunday Times, her answer was a practical and gracious one: “All I can really say is ..
. I mean, I love my family. And I understand that I’m blessed.
” Olivia Washington is one of four children born to Training Day star Denzel Washington and his actress-singer wife Pauletta, and has an equally talented twin brother named Malcolm The up-and-coming actress played a superhuman in I’m a Virgo, and has hit back against criticism of her latest project Slave Play, including comments from Britain’s former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
