Kerry Washington gained attention when she was nominated for her first Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress in the film Lift in 2002. Washington appeared in Spike Lee's film She Hate Me, starring in the lead role opposite Anthony Mackey. Washington also appeared in Sidney Lumet's HBO film Strip Search, a drama exposing the McCarthy-like paranoia that has plagued America since 9/11. At the same time that she was shooting Strip Search, which co-stars Ellen Barkin, Glenn Close and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Washington was also finishing work on the independent film Sexual Life, a series of vignettes about people and their relationships. In this film, Washington co-starred with Tom Everett Scott, Dule Hill, Anne Heche and Azura Skye.

Washington appeared in Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford, the film also stars Jamie Foxx (playing Ray Charles), and Washington plays his wife, Della.

Other credits include Against the Ropes, Sin, opposite Gary Oldman and Ving Rhames, and Paramount Classic's The United States of Leland, opposite Kevin Spacey and Ryan Gosling.

Additional film credits for Washington include Miramax's The Human Stain, starring Nicole Kidman and Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jerry Bruckheimer's Bad Company, starring Chris Rock and Sir Anthony Hopkins and directed by Joel Schumacher, and Lift, written and directed by DeMane Davis and Khari Streetef. Washington is well known for her role in Paramount Pictures' Save the Last Dance, starring opposite Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, for which she received a Teen Choice Award for Best Breakout Performance. Prior to that, Washington starred in the highly acclaimed independent film Our Song, playing a wise but conflicted teen.

During her free time, Washington is an active supporter of the Creative Coalition, a group dedicated to raising awareness of First Amendment Rights and support of arts in education, and in a program called Adopt-A-Classroom in New York City.