Stage Presence

The life of a busy actor isn't always easy, but for Sharon Washington '81, it's the only one she wants.

SHARON WASHINGTON DOESN'T USUALLY HOLD A GRUDGE when she loses out on a role. "I give myself a day and a half to grieve and then it's on to the next thing," she says. But after working in New York theater for two decades, she finds the recent trend of producers casting TV and film stars just for the sake of publicity a tad insulting. "I'm not disappointed when they pick someone who's a great actress," she says. "But if it's a sitcom star hired just to get butts in the seats? That hurts."

Fortunately for Washington, she won't go hungry if she gets turned down for the next great production to open on—or off— Broadway. "I'm very fortunate in that I play a little in all the arenas," says the actress, who does everything from lending her voice to audio books to appearing in TV commercials to acting opposite the likes of George Clooney and Denzel Washington in Oscarwinning films. Most recently, she had a string of guest roles on three prime-time TV series: Damages, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Although she's often cast in the crime dramas thanks to her proficiency at "med-speak," as she calls it, she's versatile enough to play everything from a porn expert (her role on SVU) to Lady Anne. And while the rejection aspect of acting is never fun, Washington is proud to be making a living at doing what she loves most. "I've carved out a fairly good career here," she admits.

Married to documentary filmmaker Chuck Schultz since 2002, Washington lives in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, just a few miles south of where she grew up as the only child of a library custodian and a church secretary on the Upper West Side. Although Washington acted in a few pageant plays at the family's church, she got a bigger taste for acting in junior high. "I had my 'aha' moment on an after-school class trip in the eighth grade," she says. "We saw the Shakespeare Festival production of MuchAdo About Nothing and not only did I love the play but, for the first time, I saw people of color in this beautiful period piece, people who looked like me. I will never forget it."

These days she's a regular at the New York Public Theater, which runs the Shakespeare Festival, and is often called on to perform in the latest play or help out with the frequent readings and workshops the company puts on. "She's become part of our extended family," says casting director Heidi Griffiths. "I call her 'The Dame,' like Judi Dench, because that's the high regard we hold her in here."

Despite her early love for performing Washington didn't even consider studying acting at Dartmouth. "I was the first person in my family to go to college, so I was not about to do that to my parents," she says. Instead, she majored in government and reserved her dramatic flair for extracurricular activities such as the Black Underground Theater Association, which she co-chaired her senior year. Two of her more memorable productions were a Ghanaian play called Edufa, directed by then drama department chairman Errol Hill, and Casina, directed by English professor William Cook. She never took a single drama class, but Washington was a natural from the start. "It was always very clear that she belonged on stage," says longtime pal Laurel Richie '81, who's still a fan today. "She gets so into her roles that when I'm watching her I forget that she's my friend. She truly becomes the character."

When it came close to graduation Washington decided to find a compromise between her love of acting and her fear of disappointing her mother and father. She decided to go into theater production. She contacted Barry Grove '73, executive producer of the Manhattan Theatre Club, to find out about the business side of showbiz. He hired her to work in the box office and then as his assistant so she could learn what goes on behind the scenes. But all she wanted to do was get on the stage. "I was champing at the bit watching the actors," she says. Around the same time she saw Charles S. Dutton in an August Wilson play on Broadway. "He was like a force of nature," she says. When she found out he was a graduate of the Yale School of Drama she had an epiphany. "That's it! I have to go to Yale!" she said to herself.

Although the Yale program was extraordinarily selective (getting onto American Idol may be an easier feat), Washington was accepted as one of the 16 members of the class of 1988. While she says that Yale isn't the "magic bullet" people expect it to be— "there's always going to be someone newer, fresher and more talented out there," she says—it gave her an arsenal of tools she continues to use. And it's helped her hold her own against some of the best actors in Hollywood. One of her first big stage roles was as Lady Anne opposite Denzel Washington in a 1990 Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III. She worked with him again in the 1992 movie,Malcolm X. A favorite movie role was playing George Clooney's assistant inMichael Clayton (2007). "That was the most laid-back set I've ever worked on, thanks to him," she says. "He's a really nice guy—and easy on the eyes, too."

Although her parents have now passed away the actress is forever grateful they got to see their only child succeed at her dream profession. "I think they worried at first that I wouldn't be able to pay my rent, but they warmed up to it pretty quickly," says Washington. "Once I was getting roles on TV theyd brag about it to all their friends and have them over to watch whatever I was in."

Between her volunteer work for New York's 52nd Street Project, which produces plays by inner-city kids, and sitting on the Screen Actors Guild national board of directors she rarely finds time to escape work—except through her pottery. "I love to just zone out and not think about anything else," she says. "In acting you don't have a lot of control. There's always somebody saying, 'You're too young' or 'You're too old.' Then if you do get the part the director and the editor call all the shots. But with pottery, it's just me and the clay."

Someday, says Washington, she'd like to move to the country and open her own pottery studio. In the meantime she has more auditions to prepare for. "There must be something very dark about us actors that says it's okay to put ourselves through all this rejection on a regular basis," she says. "But there is something so magical when you're on stage and it all comes together. You can't beat it."

Show Time Washington's more than 75 acting credits include stage roles as (clockwise from upper left) Elise Kayitesi in TheOverwhelming, Goneril in King Lear, Lady Anne (with □enzel Washington) in Richard III and Mistress Page in The Merry Wivesof Windsor.

JENNIFER WULFF is a frequent DAM contributor who lives in Norwalk, Connecticut.