Isaiah Washington

Isaiah Washington IV (born August 3, 1963) is an American actor and internet personality. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence for portraying Dr. Preston Burke in the first three seasons of the series Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2007.
Washington began his career collaborating with director Spike Lee on the films Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Girl 6 (1996), and Get on the Bus (1996). He also appeared in the films Love Jones (1997), Bulworth (1998), True Crime (1999), Romeo Must Die (2000), Exit Wounds (2001), Ghost Ship (2002), and Hollywood Homicide (2003). In 2005, Washington landed his breakthrough role as Preston Burke on Grey's Anatomy. He was dismissed after the third season over allegations that he used homophobic slurs, although he would return for a guest appearance in 2014. From 2014 to 2018, Washington portrayed Thelonious Jaha on The CW's science fiction television series The 100. 
In 2020, Washington became the host of a travel cooking show on Fox Nation.
==Early life==
Washington was born in Houston, Texas, where his parents were residents in the Houston Heights community. His parents moved to Missouri City, Texas around 1980, where he was one of the first graduates from Willowridge High School, Houston, in 1981. Washington revealed in an interview with Star Jones that his father, after whom he was named, was murdered when he was 13 years old. He went on to serve in the United States Air Force and attended Howard University.
==Career==
===Early roles===
Washington made his feature film debut in 1991's Strictly Business before engaging in a string of collaborations with director Spike Lee. Between 1994 and 1996, Washington appeared in Lee's films Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6, and Get on the Bus. He also had roles in the films Stonewall, Dead Presidents, Love Jones, Out of Sight, Bulworth, True Crime, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Hollywood Homicide, and Wild Things 2.
===Grey's Anatomy===
In 2005, Washington originated the role of gifted cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Preston Burke on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. His portrayal earned him two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award. He was paired onscreen with Sandra Oh, who plays intern Cristina Yang. Washington had originally auditioned for the role of Derek Shepherd, which ultimately went to Patrick Dempsey. Burke had originally been described as a nebbishy, stout forty-something man. For his portrayal of Burke, Isaiah was honored by TV Guide as one of "TV's Sexiest Men" in June 2006, and was named one of TV's sexiest doctors in June 2008 on TV Guides television channel. Prior to the TV Guide honor, Isaiah was named as one of Peoples "50 Beautiful People" in May 2006. On March 6, 2014, ABC announced that Washington would be returning to the show in a guest appearance as Burke. He returned in season 10, which served as part of a farewell storyline for Sandra Oh's character, Cristina Yang. The characters had been previously engaged to be married.
====Dismissal controversy====
In the show's third season, Washington became a central figure in a widely reported backstage controversy. In October 2006, rumors surfaced that Washington allegedly insulted co-star T. R. Knight with a homophobic slur while arguing with Patrick Dempsey. Knight was not on the set at the time. Shortly after the details of the argument became public, Knight publicly disclosed that he was gay. There were rumors that Knight was going to be outed by the media. The situation seemed somewhat resolved when Washington issued a statement, apologizing for his "unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set".
The controversy later resurfaced when the cast appeared at the Golden Globes in January 2007. While being interviewed on the red carpet prior to the awards, Washington joked, "I love gay. I wanted to be gay. Please let me be gay". After the show won Best Drama, Washington, in response to press queries as to any conflicts backstage, said, "No, I did not call T.R. a fa***t". However, in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Knight said that "everybody heard him".
After being rebuked by his studio, Touchstone Television (now ABC Studios), Washington issued a statement apologizing at length for using the epithet in an argument with Patrick Dempsey. On January 30, 2007, a source told People magazine that Washington was scheduled to return to the Grey's Anatomy set as early as that Thursday for the first time since entering "executive counseling" after making the comments at the Golden Globes.
However, on June 7, 2007, ABC announced it had decided not to renew Washington's contract, and that he would be dropped from the show. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," Washington said in a statement released by his publicist (borrowing the famous line from Network). In another report, Washington stated he was planning to "spend the summer pursuing charity work in Sierra Leone, work on an independent film and avoid worrying about the show". Washington, in late June 2007, began asserting that racism within the media was a factor in his firing from the series. On July 2, 2007, Washington appeared on Larry King Live on CNN, to present his side of the controversy. According to Washington, he never used the "F Word" in reference to Knight, but rather told Dempsey to stop treating him like a "F-word" during an argument "provoked" by Dempsey, who, he felt, was treating him like a "B-word", a "P-word", and the "F-word", which Washington said conveyed "somebody who is being weak and afraid to fight back". He also disputed the accusations made by Knight, who he claimed was misrepresenting himself out of disappointment over his character.
In July 2007, NBC decided to cast Washington as a guest star in a story arc in its new series Bionic Woman. NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman noted his eagerness to work with Washington, saying it would be "like A-Rod leaving the Yankees in midseason". However, Bionic Woman was cancelled after only eight episodes due to low ratings. Washington himself said that his dismissal from Grey's Anatomy was an unfortunate misunderstanding that he was eager to move past. By the beginning of the next season of Grey's Anatomy, Washington's character "Burke" had left the show following the end of the season finale.
In January 2014, in an interview with I Am Entertainment magazine, Washington spoke about life after Grey's Anatomy and he stated, "I don't worry about whether or not the stories I tell will destroy my acting career, because you can't take away something that doesn't exist. They killed the actor [in me] on June 7, 2007."
=== Recent work ===
Washington played the role of Chancellor Jaha in The 100, an American post-apocalyptic drama television series that began airing on The CW Television Network in spring 2014. The series is based on a book of the same name by Kass Morgan, and developed by Jason Rothenberg. Washington's character was killed in the second episode of the show's fifth season, "Red Queen".
Washington also starred in the film Blue Caprice, which was inspired by the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks. Washington portrayed perpetrator John Allen Muhammad, with Tequan Richmond playing Muhammed's accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo. The film was released in theaters on September 13, 2013.
Washington began hosting a travel and cooking show Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk on Fox Nation, the streaming service arm of the Fox conglomerate, in 2020.
==Personal life==
Washington married Jenisa Marie Garland on February 14, 1996. The couple have three children.
Washington had endorsed Jill Stein for President of the United States, but has since become a member of the #WalkAway movement. He has also promoted opinions prevalent in conservative online communities on his social media accounts, such as the QAnon conspiracy theory.
===Genealogical inquiry===
Washington is of African descent. Washington has written a book called A Man from Another Land, which chronicles Washington's early life, his TV and film career, and his search to find his roots after going through a DNA test that showed his ancestors came from Sierra Leone in West Africa. A genealogical DNA test conducted by African Ancestry, Inc. revealed that Washington's maternal ancestry can be traced to what is now Sierra Leone, and that he has an ancestral link to the Mende and Temne peoples there. Since learning about his history, Washington has traveled to Sierra Leone, donated medical supplies to a hospital there, and built a school. He travelled to Sierra Leone in May 2006 marking the beginning of his charity work and was granted Sierra Leonean citizenship, making him the first African American to be granted full citizenship based on DNA. He has also been vested with a chieftaincy title of the Mende people in appreciation for his work in the country, taking the regnal name of Gondobay Manga II. His paternal ancestry also links him to the Mbundu people, an ethnic group in Angola.
==Filmography==
===Film===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1991	The Color of Love 	 	
1991	Land Where My Fathers Died 	Malcolm 	Short film
1991	Strictly Business 	Hustler 	
1993	Strapped 	Willie 	Television film
1994	Crooklyn 	Vic 	
1994	Alma's Rainbow 	Miles 	
1995	Stonewall 	Uniformed Cop 	
1995	Clockers 	Victor Dunham 	
1995	Dead Presidents 	Andrew Curtis 	Uncredited
1996	Girl 6 	Shoplifter 	
1996	Mr. and Mrs. Loving 	Blue 	Television movie
1996	Get on the Bus 	Kyle 	
1996	Soul of the Game 	Adult Willie Mays 	Television film
1997	Love Jones 	Savon Garrison 	
1997	Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way	Dwight Gooden 	Television film
1998	Always Outnumbered 	Wilfred 	Television film
1998	Mixing Nia 	Lewis 	
1998	Bulworth 	Darnell 	
1998	Rituals 	Wendal 	Short film
1999	True Crime 	Frank Louis Beechum 	
1999	Out of Sight 	Kenneth Miller 	
1999	A Texas Funeral 	Walter 	
2000	Veil 	Bentley 	
2000	Romeo Must Die 	Mac 	
2000	Dancing in September 	George Washington 	Television filmNominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
2000	Kin 	Stone 	
2001	Tara 	Max 	
2001	Exit Wounds 	George Clark 	
2001	Sacred Is the Flesh 	Roland 	
2002	Welcome to Collinwood 	Leon 	
2002	Ghost Ship 	Greer 	
2003	Hollywood Homicide 	Antoine Sartain 	
2003	This Girl's Life 	Shane 	
2004	Wild Things 2 	Terence Bridge 	
2004	Dead Birds 	Todd 	
2004	Trois: The Escort 	Bernard 'Benny' Grier 	
2005	The Moguls 	Homer 	
2008	The Least of These 	Father Andre James 	
2010	Hurricane Season 	Coach Buddy Simmons 	
2011	Area Q 	Thomas Mathews 	
2012	The Undershepherd 	L.C. 	
2012	David E. Talbert's Suddenly Single 	Sylvester Stone Sr. 	
2013	Blue Caprice 	John Allen Muhammad 	Nominated – Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion PictureNominated – Gotham Independent Award for Best Actor
2013	Doctor Bello 	Dr. Michael Durant 	
2014	Blackbird 	Lance Rousseau 	
2015	The Sin Seer 	Grant Summit 	
2016	Secret Summer 	Gus 	Television film
2017	Dead Trigger 	Rockstock 	
2018	Behind the Movement 	E.D. Nixon 	Television film
2019	Keys to the City 	August King 	
2020	Cut Throat City 	Sinclair Stewart 	
2020	Trump Card 	Isaiah Washington (as himself), interviewed by Dinesh D'Souza	Political documentary
2020	James the Second 	Dr. Ramesh 	Post-production
2021	Escape from Black Water 	 	Post-production
===Television===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1991 	Law & Order 	Derek Hardy 	Episode: "Out of Control"
1994 	Homicide: Life on the Street 	Lane Staley 	Episode: "Black and Blue"
1994 	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	O.G. 	Episode: "POWER: The Eddie Matos Story"
1995 	NYPD Blue 	Antonio Boston 	Episode: "E.R."
1996 	New York Undercover 	Andre Morgan 	3 episodes
1996 	Living Single 	Dr. Charles Roberts 	3 episodes
1997 	High Incident 	Rulon "RuDog" Douglas	Episode: "Remote Control"
1998 	Ally McBeal 	Michael Rivers 	2 episodes
2000 	Soul Food 	Miles Jenkins 	3 episodes
2001 	Touched by an Angel 	Rev. Austin Davis 	Episode: "A Death in the Family"
2001 	All My Children 	Police Officer 	Episode: "5 July 2001"
2005–2007,2014	Grey's Anatomy 	Dr. Preston Burke 	62 episodesNAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2006–07)Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television SeriesScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama SeriesNominated – Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama SeriesNominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2007 	Bionic Woman 	Antonio Pope 	5 episodes
2008 	The Cleaner 	Keith Bowen 	Episode: "The Eleventh Hour"
2011 	Law & Order: LA 	Roland Davidson 	Episode: "Carthay Circle"
2011 	Single Ladies 	Noland 	Episode: "Confidence Games"
2014–2018 	The 100 	Thelonious Jaha 	44 episodes
2017 	Blue Bloods 	Chief Travis Jackson 	Episode: "A Deep Blue Goodbye"
2017 	Bull 	Jules Caffrey 	Episode: "Bring It On"
2020 	P-Valley 	Mayor Tydell Ruffin 	6 episodes
2020 	Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk	Himself 	Host
==Awards and nominations==
Image Awards
Year	Category 	Nominated Work 	Result
2002	Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special	Dancing in September	
2006	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series 	Grey's Anatomy 	
2007	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series 	Grey's Anatomy 	
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Year	Category 	Nominated Work	Result
2006	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Grey's Anatomy	
2007	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Grey's Anatomy	
2008	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Grey's Anatomy	
Category:1963 births
Category:Male actors from Houston
Category:African-American male actors
Category:Howard University alumni
Category:Living people
Category:United States Air Force personnel
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American people of Sierra Leonean descent
Category:American people of Angolan descent
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:21st-century Sierra Leonean male actors