Don’t think Denzel Washington’s daughter is going to get any free passes in Hollywood—the actor made her audition for him so he could tell if she had real talent!
As reported by Contactmusic.com, Washington said, “In her senior year at high school she was working on her audition and LaTanya Richardson, who is Sam Jackson’s wife and a brilliant actress in her own right, was working with her, and I said, ‘All right, Olivia, I want to see your two pieces.’ She went all dramatic and said, ‘Oh dad!’ And I said, ‘Come on now. Nobody’s going to be tougher than me. I’m going to tell you the truth because I’d rather you’d be a little hurt if you don’t have what it takes than have a lifetime of pain.’
“She did the two pieces and right away I said do them again. She did them again and I said, ‘Ok. Here’s the bad news. This is one of the toughest professions you’re ever going to try to do. But you are very good and you have what it takes.’”
The two-time Oscar winner doesn’t regret having her go through the process. “I would never have said that if I hadn’t meant it, I put on my director’s hat and watched a young actor audition,” Washington said. “And she was good.”
Olivia, 21, is now studying acting at New York University, and has earned her first film role.
