If not for Tyler Perry, Hollywood might have missed out on one of its most cherished talents in Kerry Washington. At the end of the aughts, before her iconic starring turn as Olivia Pope in the blockbuster TV series Scandal, Washington felt that she’d achieved what she’d set out to do as an actor and was ready to move on. “I was doing a play on Broadway — and I loved the stage, and I loved this experience — but I was like, This is it,” the Emmy winner recalls now. “Growing up in New York, my dream [was] to be on Broadway. [I thought,] I’m here. This is the mic drop moment when I now pivot and transition to something else.”

Then the phone rang. Perry was offering Washington a key role in For Colored Girls, his adaptation of playwright-poet Ntozake Shange’s lauded choreopoem about the experiences of women of color. “It changed my life to be able to do that film and work with some of my heroes,” Washington says of the movie’s cast, which included then-rising stars Tessa Thompson and Anika Noni Rose and such veterans as Loretta Devine, Janet Jackson, and Phylicia Rashad. “And it kept me in the business for a little bit longer — thank God.”

Consider us all very thankful. Washington has gone on to demonstrate her considerable range across an array of projects, including her latest, The Six Triple Eight, which reunites her with none other than writer-director-producer Perry. The historical drama casts her as Major Charity Adams, leader of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was the only battalion of women of color who went overseas in the Second World War. “During World War II, letters from home meant everything to the boys on the front lines,” Perry explains. “But by Christmas of 1944, millions of pieces of mail had piled up in England. To get them to the troops, a new system was needed, and it would be managed by a new unit ready to prove themselves up for the task.”

The women cleared the backlog in record time, but their story remained largely untold. Reading Perry’s screenplay, which is based on a 2019 article by Kevin M. Hymel, Washington knew immediately that she wanted to be involved in trumpeting the unit’s accomplishments to the world. “I felt really humbled, because these women are real people and their legacy is so extraordinary,” says the actor, who executive-produces the film. 

The filmmakers knew she was the ideal candidate to take on the role of Adams. “Kerry was my first choice, always,” says producer Nicole Avant. “She is so strong, and she’s confident and she’s kind and she’s empathetic. She respects and honors women and history, and women of color in history, and always wants to celebrate the story of an underdog.”

But The Six Triple Eight isn’t Washington’s only new venture. Through her company Simpson Street, she executive-produced the affecting documentary Daughters about the Date with Dad initiative, which encourages incarcerated men to take part in a 10-week Fatherhood Responsibility Program leading to a special father-daughter dance held inside a Washington, D.C. jail. “It breaks your heart,” Washington says of the film, “but it breaks your heart open.”

An edited version of the conversation follows. 

Behind the scenes of The Six Triple Eight with Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams

So, The Six Triple Eight. I can imagine that was a pretty quick “yes” when Tyler Perry called with this part. 

The 6888th served by solving this seemingly impossible problem, which was that during World War II, the armed forces decided to stop delivering the mail in order to save resources. They thought, We’ll just stockpile all the mail until later. But people started to freak out because wives were not hearing from their husbands, husbands weren’t hearing from wives. Mothers wondered if their sons were alive or not. Emotions were torn apart, and there was low morale because people didn’t feel connected. There were airplane hangars filled with mail, and the women were given six months to try to fix this problem. And they did it in under 90 days.

I really enjoyed the experience of watching this film, the way it depicts what it was like for any woman of color at that time, let alone in a military environment. 

The level of misogyny and racism that you’re up against within these systems, it’s just [overwhelming]. I really credit Tyler, because if I had any hesitation when he called me, it was like, How do you make a movie about the mail? But I read the script, and I was like, Oh, I get it. He has this incredible cast of young women, and they represent this idea that women are not a monolith. These women come from all different parts of the country. They’re coming to the war for all different reasons, and we really enter the war through their eyes. And then I have the privilege of being their captain. It’s my job to bring them through this.

How was it to go back on a set with Tyler, knowing it had been 15 years since you two had worked together?

When I think about what Tyler has created, to be at his studios filming, where you have all these giant stages named after our greatest legends in film, to see people who’ve risen through the ranks with him, that he’s changed lives with the level of employment and opportunity that he’s created for people — it is so inspiring. His studio is a former Civil War base. So here we are really reversing history. We’re on the grounds of a Confederate Army base whose intention was to maintain the enslavement of Black people, and we are making a film about Black people contributing to the fight for freedom all around the world on that same soil. It gave me chills every day. Every scene we shot felt like a prayer of gratitude to these women. 

Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington)

Did you meet any of the real women from the 6888th Battalion? 

I didn’t get to meet any of them in person, but we got to speak to some of them virtually and on the phone. They were always in tears. They can’t believe that we’re bringing this story forward in this way, and I’m just so happy that they’re getting their flowers now. 

Let’s talk about your other film, the documentary Daughters. How did this come to you? 

Simpson Street had a series called UnPrisoned, where I had the great privilege of working with Delroy Lindo, who played my dad. His character’s been in and out of prison all of my character’s life, and that humanized for me what it means to be a returning citizen. What we really wanted to do was help families who are walking through journeys like this to see themselves, to know how much they matter. But for those of us who haven’t been part of the system in that way, [it can be hard] to understand the real human impact that the so-called justice system has on families. Some of my fellow producers on Daughters came to Simpson Street to say, “Your show is about fathers and daughters and how the criminal justice system impacts families, and we want to show you a documentary.”

When we saw the film, we were just blown away. We thought, This is how you prevent the generational trauma that my character on UnPrisoned is navigating. This is how you prevent the anxiety and the heartbreak in families. You figure out how to give these dads the tools to stay out of prison once they’re able to leave, and you give them the tools to be able to really connect with their daughters on a deep level throughout this difficult process. Watching this film, it gives you more capacity to feel a greater sense of love and compassion.

watch more on skip intro with krista smith

Kerry Washington on Skip Intro with Krista Smith