Isaiah Washington Biography

Isaiah Washington IV (born August 3, 1963) is an American-Sierra Leonean actor. A veteran of several Spike Lee films, Washington is best known for his role as Dr. Preston Burke on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy from 2005 until 2007.

Personal 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. Washington went on to serve in the United States Air Force and attended Howard University. Washington married Jenisa Marie Garland on February 14, 1996. The couple have three children (Isaiah Akin-Olu, Tyme Baraka, and Iman Sele).

Career

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 Dr. Cristina Yang. Washington had originally auditioned for the role of Dr. Derek Shepherd, which ultimately went to Patrick Dempsey. Burke had originally been described as a nebbishy, stout forty-something man. For his portrayal of Dr. 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.

Dismissal

In the show's third season, Washington became a central figure in a widely reported backstage controversy. In October 2006, rumors surfaced that Washington had insulted co-star T. R. Knight with a homophobic slur. Shortly after the details of the argument became public, Knight publicly disclosed that he was gay. 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, "I never called T.R. a faggot". 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".

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."

On March 6, 2014, ABC announced that Washington would be returning to the show in a guest appearance as Burke. He will return in a May episode, which will serve as part of a farewell storyline for Sandra Oh's character, Dr. Cristina Yang. The characters had been previously engaged to be married.

Recent work

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. Since learning about his history, Washington has traveled to Sierra Leone, donated medical supplies to a hospital there, and built a school.

Washington is playing 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 also starred in the film Blue Caprice, which was inspired by the Beltway sniper attacks during which two men, John Muhammed (played by Washington) and Lee Malvo (Tequan Richmond), conducted a siege of terror on the Washington, D.C. area. The film was released in theaters on September 13, 2013.

Genealogical inquiry

Washington is of African descent. 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. In May 2006 he visited Sierra Leone, and received a warm welcome from the local people. 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.

His paternal ancestry links him to the Mbundu people, an ethnic group in Angola.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	The Color of Love
	Land Where My Fathers Died	Malcolm	Short film
	Strictly Business	Hustler
1994	Crooklyn	Vic
	Alma's Rainbow	Miles	Direct-to-video release
1995	Stonewall	Uniformed Cop
	Clockers	Victor Dunham
	Dead Presidents	Andrew Curtis	Uncredited role
1996	Girl 6	Shoplifter
	Get on the Bus	Kyle
1997	Love Jones	Savon Garrison
1998	Mixing Nia	Lewis	Direct-to-video release
	Bulworth	Darnell
	Rituals	Wendal	Short film
1999	True Crime	Frank Louis Beechum
	Out of Sight	Kenneth Miller
	A Texas Funeral	Walter	Direct-to-video release
2000	Veil	Bentley	Direct-to-video release
	Romeo Must Die	Mac
	Kin	Stone
2001	Tara	Max	Direct-to-video release
	Exit Wounds	George Clark
	Sacred Is the Flesh	Roland
2002	Welcome to Collinwood	Leon
	Ghost Ship	Greer
2003	Hollywood Homicide	Antoine Sartain
	This Girl's Life	Shane
2004	Wild Things 2	Terence Bridge	Direct-to-video release
	Dead Birds	Todd
	Trois: The Escort	Bernard 'Benny' Grier	Direct-to-video release
2005	The Moguls	Homer
2008	The Least of These	Father Andre James
2010	Hurricane Season	Coach Buddy Simmons	Direct-to-video release
2011	rea Q	Thomas Mathews
2012	The Undershepherd	L.C.	Direct-to-video release
2013	Blue Caprice	John Muhammed	Pending - Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor
2014	Blackbird	Lance Rousseau
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Law & Order	Derek Hardy	Episode: Out of Control
1993	Strapped	Willie	HBO TV movie
1994	Homicide: Life on the Street	Lane Staley	Episode: Black and Blue
	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	O.G.	Episode: "POWER - The Eddie Matos Story"
1995	NYPD Blue	Antonio Boston	Episode: "E.R."
1996	Mr. and Mrs. Loving	Blue	ABC TV movie
	New York Undercover	Andre Morgan	Episode: "Sympathy For the Devil" Episode: "Andre's Choice"
	Soul of the Game	Adult Willie Mays	HBO TV movie
	Living Single	Dr. Charles Roberts	Episode: "I've Got You Under My Skin" Episode: "Virgin Territory" Episode: "Doctor in the House"
1997	High Incident	Rulon 'RuDog' Douglas	Episode: "Remote Control"
	Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way	Dwight Gooden	TV movie
1998	Always Outnumbered	Wilfred	HBO TV movie
	Ally McBeal	Michael Rivers	Episode: "The Inmates" Episode: "Being There"
2000	Dancing in September	George Washington	HBO TV movie
	Soul Food	Miles Jenkins	Episode: "The More Things Change" Episode: "The More Things Stay the Same" Episode: "Heart of the Matter"
2001	Touched by an Angel	Reverend Davis	Episode: "A Death in the Family"
	All My Children	Police Officer	Episode: 5 July 2001
2005–2007; 2014	Grey's Anatomy	Preston Burke	Series regular (61 episodes), Guest Star Season 10 (1 episode)
2007	Bionic Woman	Antonio Pope
2014-present	The 100	Chancellor Thelonius Jaha

Awards and nominations

Image Awards

• 2002: Nominated, "Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special" - Dancing in September
• 2006: Won, "Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series" - Grey's Anatomy
• 2007: Won, "Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series" - Grey's Anatomy

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 2006: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Grey's Anatomy
• 2007: Won, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Grey's Anatomy
• 2008: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Grey's Anatomy