Kerry Washington shows her maternal side in the movies

Kerry Washington at the New York City press junket for "Mother and Child"

Kerry Washington didn’t plan it this way, but in most of her film roles, she has played a mother or someone who is about to become a mother. In the drama "Mother and Child," Washington (who in real life is single with no children) plays a Los Angeles woman named Lucy, who is desperately trying to trying to have a baby. When Lucy realizes that she may be infertile, she and her husband, Joseph (played by David Ramsey), decide to adopt instead, and an adoption arrangement is made with a pregnant teen named Ray (played Shareeka Epps).

Meanwhile, "Mother and Child" (written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia) also tells the stories of two other women in the Los Angeles area — a physical therapist named Karen (played by Annette Bening) and an attorney named Elizabeth (played by Naomi Watts) — who have their own adoption issues that may or may not have to do with what Lucy is experiencing. I recently caught up with Washington at the "Mother and Child" press junket in New York City, where she talked about why she’s been playing so many maternal roles, how her experience doing the Broadway play "Race" has affected her as an actress, and what it’s like to be a member of Barack Obama’s administration.

Do you have any personal ties to Inwood House, a non-profit organization aimed at sex education and helping pregnant teens? The New York premiere of "Mother and Child" was organized in part to benefit Inwood House.

Our producer is in with them. Which one of our producers is it? Lisa Marie Falcone … Lisa is awesome.

Kerry Washington and David Ramsey in "Mother and Chld"

What attracted you to the "Mother and Child" script?

It was brilliant. It’s just an incredible piece of writing. It was an incredible piece of dramatic literature just on the page. I felt when I was reading it that I can already see these women and hear these women. That for me is a sign that I want to really do this project when I’m reading it. I can I hear Lucy in my head and I can see how she walks and all of that. That was very vivid for me. It’s just a beautiful piece of writing.

It was very clear to me that this was a film about three women who undergo massive transformations in their lives over the course of the film. That is fantastic for us actresses, because we often are the people who hold hands of the people who are going through traumatic transformations in their lives, so it was great. It was really exciting.

How did you get geared up for the emotionally wrenching hospital scene?

It’s interesting because I’m not a mother and I’ve never tried to be a mother. It’s nothing that I could not relate to specifically in those terms, but I do know what it feels like to want something very much that you can’t control. I understand that. I also think that it’s the magical "what if," which is what we do as actors. We ask ourselves, "What if that happened to me? What if it did? How would I feel? What would I do?" And then, "What if I [were] Lucy? How would she feel? What would she do?"

I always feel that the emotional truth comes from, "What do I know about this? Where can I relate to this? Where do I have to do to match my heart to what her heart is going through?" Character is then how that is expressed. Character to me, "How does she walk? How doe she talk? We both run, but is how does she run?"

There was sort of a surprise that happened that when we blocked [the scene], we talked about this would happen, that would happen, then the scene would be over. You know that a role is really beautifully written when you find surprises along the way. So we were doing that scene in the hallway, and then it was over. And in the moment, I thought, "Wait a minute, this woman doesn’t give up."

The whole film is about [Lucy] think it’s going one way, then the universe changes it on her. She goes back, and now she’s got it. She’s very tenacious. In the moment, I decided to go for it again, which wasn’t something that we rehearsed, but I felt that like that was who Rodrigo had written: a woman who wouldn’t give up after one try; she would go for it again. You got these wonderful surprises along the way when the material is really great and you’re working with great people.

Shareeka Epps and Kerry Washington in "Mother and Child"

What do you think about the relationship that Lucy had with her mother, Ada? Did your own mother influence you in any way?

I have a really kick-ass mom. She is awesome. She’s really smart, really supportive. She desperately did not want me to be an actor, but put up with it anyway. She’s a pretty incredible good role model. She’s somebody who has balanced a marriage, motherhood, and a fantastic career. She’s now a retired professor of education. I don’t know how she did all that, but she somehow did. We have a really great relationship.

It’s different than the relationship [Lucy and Ada have] in the film. I think they have a little more obvious tension than my mother and I have, but I like their relationship in the film. There’s a lot of kinetic energy. And working with S. Epatha [Merkerson, who plays Ada] was so great. She’s so good and I felt so lucky when Rodrigo told me we had her. She brings a really nice quality to the dynamic of our relationship, because she is so kind of grounded and real, and Lucy is an uptight perfectionist. I really like their dynamic. It’s different from the dynamic with my mom, but I really like it.

How has it been for you on Broadway (in the play "Race"), and how that may affect you in moving forward as an actress?

It’s been great … You know when a couples’ therapist says to a couple, "Go on vacation and remember why you fell in love with each other"? I feel that way about my acting because I fell in love with acting on the stage. Because it’s been so long since I’ve done a play, it’s almost like I forgot my first love. It’s been really nice to meet my lover and fall in love again. It’s great. It’s really, really great.

Kerry Washington in the Broadway production of "Race"

Can you talk about Lucy as a mother and that scene where she has a mini-meltdown from being overwhelmed at taking care of a baby?

I’m glad you asked me that! This is so funny to me! This always happens. Men always see that scene and they get a little bit alienated and a little like "I don’t know what to think about this," and a little bit concerned about her. And women see that scene and they’re like, "Thank God," because there’s not a single woman who’s been a mother that hasn’t felt that way at some point.

That’s what I’m hearing that constantly in interviews from women who are like "That was great. I totally remember that morning when I felt like that. I can’t imagine being a single mother and not having someone hold the kid so I friggin’ take a shower." It is interesting to me that this is consistently the response …

Every mother goes through that. That’s what is so interesting. Men think, "She’s not ready. She’s having a hard time because the baby’s adopted." They think all these things and women who are mothers just go, "I am so glad to see that on film because I felt that way." I know enough women who’ve gone through that. I’ve been with enough girlfriends [who are mothers] and I go, "Who are you? Give me that friggin’ baby and please, go take a nap!" I’ve been in that situation with so many girlfriends.

I think she is going to be a great mom and I think you see that at the end of the film. It’s something that she’s really wanted and it comes to her in a great way. What I thought a lot about in that scene and prepared for in that scene was, in talking to new moms, she’s massively sleep-deprived, which is what most new moms go through. It’s funny because she’s a cranky infant dealing with a cranky infant.

Shareeka Epps, David Ramsey and Kerry Washington in "Mother and Child"

Why do you think Lucy was desperate to adopt a baby instead of an older child?

I think Lucy definitely is a bit of a perfectionist, and she has an idea of the way things are supposed to go. I think a lot of what the film is about is watching her let go of a lot of those pre-conceived notions; they keep getting peeled away. When we meet her at the beginning of the film, she is this very tightly wound person who is going to control things and desperately trying to control a situation that she can’t.

By the end of the film, we see a woman who has come to terms with living life on life’s terms and accepting things as they are, but I think that’s a big journey. In her vision of being a mother, she wants a baby from the beginning. That’s as close to the experience of giving birth that she can imagine, and she’s trying to get as close to her idea of what she thought motherhood was supposed to look like in her life.

Kerry Washington, producer Julie Lynn, Naomi Watts and Jimmy Smits at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival premiere of "Mother and Child"

Part of Lucy becoming a good mother is that she allows Karen to come into the life of the child. What would the process have been in allowing Lucy to make that decision?

When we see [Lucy], she is doing a great job as a mother when she meets Karen. I think she looks very comfortable in her motherhood at that point. I think the choice to say yes is a symbolic journey of showing how open she has come. At the beginning of the film, she is so closed-off and anxious.

And by the end of the film, she takes this risk of opening up her home to somebody, despite of what she has been through with a biological family. She’s not worried about the legality of it, the danger, she’s open now. In a lot of ways, I think that is what the film is about. It’s kind of about the more inclusive ways that we as a society are beginning to define family because of all of the ways that families happen now. You look at the families in the film and there are so shapes and configurations — ethnically, religiously, [with] age — it takes on so many forms. I think it’s a really beautiful subcurrent of the film.

You’ve been very political. Why are you so interested in politics?

It doesn’t come out of what I do. I went to rallies and marches with my parents as a child so I come from a political and academic background. I don’t believe in letting go of who I am as an American because of what I do, so I bring it with me.

We live in this democracy and I try to take my part in the responsibility of the participatory democracy that we live in. So I don’t waste my voice, and I participate. I am a woman. I am a person of color. I did come from a disenfranchised community in the central east Bronx. My politics are very personal. I try to have an understanding of the world we live in. I try to advocate for equality in all kinds of ways and levels.

A lot of my politics now manifest through arts advocacy, in supporting arts and education, First Amendment rights, and media literacy because I feel that what my life is about. In a lot of ways, art is our biggest form of cultural diplomacy, and it’s the thing in life that has had the most profound impact on who I am.

Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Mother and Child" in Park City, Utah

Did you share any information on women’s with your "Mother and Child" co-stars while you were doing the movie?

No. To be honest with you, this was shot as three separate films. We didn’t have a lot of interaction with each other. Naomi [Watts] and I were on set for one day, because we both had scenes at the hospital, but we never really worked together. We’re joking that we’d actually like to do a movie together because we like each other. I worked two days with Annette [Bening], but we didn’t have a whole lot of interaction with each other. However it was an estrogen-heavy set; there was a lot of women, but I don’t think we specifically talked in any way [about women’s issues].

How was it working with Rodrigo Garcia as a director?

He’s great. Rodrigo is really great and supportive. He’s very technical and he’s not really interested in talking about the deconstruction of your character as an actor. He really trusts you. You’re the actor and you’ll do the work. He doesn’t get in there too much. There’s not a lot of rehearsal. He really believes that you’ll come to the table with your "i’s" dotted and your "t’s" crossed, ready to go. And then he creates an environment that’s really supportive for everybody to do their best work in every department.

You are a big supporter of Barack Obama. Is there anything that people should know about him that might surprise people?

I’m actually in the [Obama] administration now. I was recently appointed to the president’s committee on arts and humanities. That is a profound honor. It’s very exciting for me. It’s a committee that works with the East Wing and the West Wing. We work in partnership with the National Endowment of the Arts, National Endowment of Humanities and the Smithsonian Institute. It’s really exciting and very fun. I was just sworn in and it was great. It’s been a real privilege to set this course in history, to have been part of the [Obama presidential] campaign early on, in the primaries, to now being a part of the administration. It’s a journey I will never forget and one that I pinch myself about every day.

Kerry Washington at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Mother and Child" in Park City, Utah

What’s next for you?

I am doing eight shows a week right now [on Broadway] with "Race." I have another film at Sundance called "Night Catches Us," which is currently in talks with distributors. I did another small role for a director I love, Jacob Estes, in a Tobey Maguire film called "The Details" … ["Night Catches Us"] is a really beautiful film. It catches up with these characters 10 years after the [Black Power] movement. Anthony [Mackie’s] character has been underground and on the run, and my character has become part of the system … She’s a civil-rights attorney. You meet these characters 10 years later, and they’re trying to make sense of their lives, both personally and politically. It’s a really neat film.

And you also play a mother in "Night Catches Us"?

Yes. It’s interesting. Motherhood is a through line in my work. There are two characters in my entire film career who have not been a mother, been pregnant, or talked about having been pregnant: [my characters] in "The Dead Girl" and "Fantastic Four." Even in "Our Song," I’m a 16-year-old girl who talks about having an abortion. In "Save the Last Dance," I played a single mom. In "Ray," I had about 16 actors who played my kids. In "Lakeview Terrace," [my character] became pregnant …

So it’s a really interesting thing that comes up in my career. A lot of actresses don’t have that. I’ve learned most of what I know about changing a diaper on a film set. It’s true. I had to learn how to change a diaper for "Save the Last Dance."