In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast features in-depth conversations with today’s most noteworthy actors and creators. Join host and senior editor Vinnie Mancuso for this guide to living the creative life from those who are doing it every day.

* This article contains spoilers for “Imperfect Women.” * 

After several decades in the industry—and seven seasons of the network TV grind playing Olivia Pope on “Scandal”—Kerry Washington knows the tricks that work to get her into character. Take, for example, a scene from “Imperfect Women,” the twisty Apple TV adaptation of Araminta Hall’s thriller novel that she executive produces and stars in. In this specific moment, the ambitious nonprofit leader Eleanor (Washington) receives the news that her close friend Nancy (Kate Mara) has been murdered. 

“The first couple of times we did it, I found my character really drawn to staring at this candle,” Washington tells us on the latest episode of In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast. “I would blur my focus in the candle, as I was trying to blur out and get lost in what the police were saying.” 

When it came time to get reverse coverage, however, “the table was gone, so now I’m staring at the side of a camera, at the dolly, trying to get lost in that same moment,” Washington recalls. 

“I had this thought of, I’m going to give myself the sense memory of the first time that I heard it today. So I asked for an apple box, and I asked for that candle that was on the table, and I just put the candle on the apple box next to the dolly so that I could have that same sort of ‘pouring myself into the fire’ feeling. It helped me be in the moment again, because staring at the dolly was like saying to my nervous system, ‘This is not real.’ ” 

That believability is key to Washington’s process. “I think I am, at heart, a character actor who just wound up becoming a girl who’s on the cover of magazines,” she says. “My heart of hearts, I’m a character actor. So how I define my success is, do you really believe I’m this other person in this other place, doing these other things and having these other thoughts?” 

In this episode, Washington dives deep into what it means to lead a television show, how she’s navigated the different arcs of her career, and much, much more. Listen and subscribe to hear the full conversation: 

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