Before Kerry Washington's career blew up as she starred as in the ABC drama Scandal, the real Washington D.C. was her home and training ground.

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Washington, who stars as Olivia Pope, is a 1998 graduate of the George Washington University, where she was a standout student in the school's Department of Theater and Dance. While in Foggy Bottom, she scored major roles in several campus productions.

Needless to say, her wild success isn't a surprise to any of her former professors.

"Even when she was a freshman, she was very serious in rehearsal hall," George Washington Professor Leslie Jacobson said. "She had a lot of ability and tremendous self-discipline."

Washington performed in plays and productions during every semester she was at the university. Her professors say they knew that the skills they saw on stage would someday lead to bigger roles.

One of her other instructors, Professor Elizabeth Kitsos-Kang, says that Scandal came at the perfect time in Washington's career.

"To watch her week-to-week developing this character really gives us all a chance to see what she's made of," Kitsos-Kang said.