Today, January 31st, is Kerry’s 33rd birthday! I would love to wish Kerry an amazing day today and hope she gets to spend some well deserved with her family and loved ones.

Actress KERRY WASHINGTON is helping struggling mums cope with the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake through her V-Day charity.

The Last King of Scotland star is on the board of the foundation which offers sanctuary to abused and desperate mothers, and she has helped set up a “safe house” for those in need of a place to sleep following Tuesday’s (12Jan10) 7.0-magnitude quake.

She says, “We have a safe house in Haiti for women who are survivors of domestic violence.”

The actress is appealing for people to donate to her charity of choice, so struggling mums, women and girls can get the attention they need amid the chaos in Haiti.

She adds, “Our president just asked (George) Bush and (Bill) Clinton to come together for a fund.”

From Contact Music

Australia doesn’t get a whole lot of firsts, but it appears that the new Marvel animated series, focusing on fan-favourite the Black Panther, will be making its debut this Saturday.

Set to debut on one of the new digital channels, ABC3, this Saturday evening at 8:15PM, The Black Panther Animated Series will bring to life one of Marvel’s most interesting characters. From the Marvel release;

Deep in the heart of Africa lies Wakanda, an advanced and unconquerable civilization. A family of warrior-kings possessing superior speed, strength and agility has governed this mysterious nation as long as time itself. The latest in this famed line is young King T’Challa, the great hero known worldwide as the Black Panther.

Marvel has also provided two blurbs from the upcoming first two episodes;

Episode 1: Jan 16 at 8.15pm on ABC3 in Australia
In a top-secret Washington meeting, Intelligence Agent Everett Ross briefs the government on the history of the Black Panther, the warrior king of the African nation of Wakanda. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, the Black Panther must compete to defend his throne in hand-to-hand combat.

Episode 2: Jan 16 at 8.42pm on ABC3 in Australia
Having been crowned the new Black Panther, T’Challa must contend with jealousy in the royal court while searching for the man who murdered his father. Unbeknownst to him, a deadly assassin named Klaw is assembling a team of super-villains to attack Wakanda.

The title character will be voiced by Djimon Hounsou, one of Hollywood’s best actors and probably best known for his role as Juba in the 2000 epic Gladiator. Joining him will be Kerry Washington as Princess Shuri, Jill Scott who will be portraying the voice of Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm from the X-Men who later becomes T’Challa’s wife, and another fan favourite, Carl Lumbly, best known for his role in Alias.

Release dates for anywhere else in the world are unknown.

From Comic Book Movie

Pucker up, Kristin Chenoweth—you could be in for some same-sex smoochin’.

Back in April, Chenoweth not only told us about her longtime hope to star in a biopic about late lesbian pop soul singer Dusty Springfield but also that she wants Kerry Washington to play her lover.

What does Ms. Washington think about this? Well, we just got off the phone with her and…

Washington says she’d jump at the chance to lock lips with the big-piped pint-size entertainer.

After reading our original interview with Chenoweth, Washington ran into her at an L.A. eatery. “I was like, ‘I would love to be your lesbian lover!’” Washington says from New York City, where she’s starring on Broadway in playwright David Mamet’s Race. “It’s very exciting. I feeling like I’ve been waiting to make out with her forever.”

And speaking of making out, that’s exactly what Washington got to do with hot stuff Hurt Locker star Anthony Mackie in Night Catches Us, an independent drama premiering later this month at the Sundance Film Festival.

Written and directed by first-time feature film director Tanya Hamilton, Night centers on two former friends (Washington and Mackie) who came of age during the Black Power Movement in 1960s Philadelphia.

Spoiler alert! Don’t read any further if you don’t want to learn about one of the movie’s most powerful scenes.

For the second time, Washington and Mackie had a love scene together. Their first on-camera hanky-panky was six years ago in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me.

“I will tell you this: Doing our second love scene was no easier than doing the first one,” Washington said. “It was even more awkward the second time around.”

Why?

“Because it’s Tanya’s first time as a director, she didn’t want to say ‘cut’ because she didn’t want to ruin it for us,” Washington explained. “So he and I would be like, ‘Cut! Enough, enough! I’m not kissing him anymore!’ ”

We should all have such problems at work.

From E! Online

One of Kerry’s upcoming films, “Night Catches Us”, will be included at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The festival runs January 21-31 in Park City, Utah…

“Night Catches Us” – Directed and written by Tanya Hamilton, which focuses on the eventful return of a young man to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up during the Black Power movement. Features Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Jamara Griffin.