As Olivia Pope on Scandal [my obsession], Kerry Washington is responsible for fixing D.C.’s high profile problems, and in Hollywood, Kerry is fixing the way black women are being portrayed on prime time television. As the first black woman to lead a network drama in 40 years, Parade magazine has not only featured her on the cover of Sunday’s issue, but they’ve also named her “The Game Changer,” which is exactly what she’s doing by shaking up those major networks portrayal of black women.

During her interview, Kerry revealed that she wasn’t really aware that they were setting out to make history and that the dysfunctional D.C. drama that’s shown on the show isn’t totally that far from the truth. She also dishes on whether or not she’s talked to President Obama about the show, her new role in Tyler Perry’s “Peeples” and what career she’d be in if this whole acting thing didn’t work out.

On Going From Working on Django to Immediately Working on Scandal
“I feel like I barely survived Django emotionally. The violence. Hearing the N-word every day. It cost me a lot psychologically, but it was worth it to tell that story.”

“I had two days between finishing Django and starting up again on Scandal. It was nuts. That first day back I had to walk across the Rose Garden in heels. I thought, ‘I don’t remember how to walk like Olivia Pope anymore. ‘ I’d been barefoot in the woods for months playing a slave.”

On Making History With Scandal
“I didn’t realize…when I was auditioning for the role. I knew that in my lifetime I’d never seen it. But it didn’t compute to me that I’d be making history. I just fell in love with the character.”

On the Dysfunctional Washington D.C. Portrayed in the Series:
“The story lines…push what’s possible. But there are stories on the news that change what we think is possible all the time. You hear about a governor who’s disappeared into the Appalachian trail because he has a South American lover, or somebody else’s behavior on Twitter. I mean, if you want to look at presidents having affairs—there are about four I can think of off the top of my head.”

On If She’s Ever Asked President Obama What He Thinks of the Show
“I haven’t wanted to ask the president his opinion of the show. But I have lots of friends in the administration who love it. We make D.C. look sexy and exciting.”

On How She Landed a Role in Tyler Perry’s Peeples
“I’m a goofy person. That’s how I ended up in Peeples. Tyler Perry saw me joking around…and said, ‘I had no idea you were this silly.”

On What She Would Be Doing if She Wasn’t Acting
[Although she won an acting scholarship to attend George Washington University, she majored in sociology and anthropology. “I wanted to study people. I thought I would either teach or be a shrink.”