Kerry Washington Talks to CBS SUNDAY MORNING About Learning to Speak Up for Herself

Actor Kerry Washington is on a hot streak. After earning raves for her work in the TV series "Scandal," Washington is now preparing for a meaty role on Broadway. But success wasn't a sure thing, and Washington learned early she had to speak up for herself to get what she wants, she tells Michelle Miller in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 7 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

She tells Miller she fell in love with acting by going to Broadway shows as a child. She also says she learned to make her own opportunities from a dance teacher at the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club after she was overlooked for a part. He told her to speak up.

"I'm a hustler," Washington tells Miller. "If I sit around and wait for people to create magic in my life, then I'll be waiting until the day I die. But I get to bring my own black girl magic into the world as best as I see fit. And that's what gives me the life I have today."

Washington is the star of "American Son," a new Broadway play about a mother and father trying to get information about their missing teen. She tells Miller she knew instantly she wanted to play the mother.

Washington has been acting for 20 years, and, like many women, she finds the #MeToo movement challenging but sees progress. Indeed, in January she joined fellow actors and producers to start Time's Up, to combat sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

"That revelation and awakening that we've had as a culture has been hard for a lot of us because so many of us have had histories of abuse and assault and harassment at work or in our personal lives," Washington tells Miller. "It's hard not to be in a state of PTSD a lot of the time. But the good thing that has come out of it is that there's more truth telling and there is more truth. And that we have been able to come together and say, 'Enough is enough. Literally, time is up. We can't have this anymore - whether it be in the Weinstein Company or the White House. There's no turning back."

Washington talks with Miller about her childhood, breaking into acting, her work on "Scandal" and how she views the future.

CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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