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A native of Houston, Texas, Isaiah Washington spent four years in the Air Force before studying drama at Washington, DC's Howard University. While at Howard, he won a role in the play Spell #7 and then moved to New York to further pursue his career. There he appeared in a number of stage productions, including August Wilson's Fences and Thornton Wilder's Skin of Our Teeth. With a passion for theater, Washington became one of the founding members of City Kids Repertory, a theater group that visits high schools and community centers throughout New York.

Washington first made his mark in cinema in gritty crime dramas and romantic ensemble comedies. He has been featured in four acclaimed Spike Lee films, Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6 and Get on the Bus. Other feature credits include Ghost Ship, Welcome to Collinwood, Hollywood Homicide, Dead Birds, Amateurs, Exit Wounds, Romeo Must Die, True Crime, Bulworth, love jones, Dead Presidents and the acclaimed Dancing in September - a performance which earned him a nomination for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor.

The NAACP acknowledged Washington's work on Grey's Anatomy with a 2006 Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series. The show was the recipient of the Outstanding Drama Series Award. In 2005 Washington produced a public service television spot for the LA Food Bank which received three 2006 Bronze Telly Awards.

Washington has guest-starred in several television series, including NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Ally McBeal, New York Undercover, Living Single, Soul Food and Touched by an Angel.

Through African Ancestry, on which he is a Board of Directors member, and through a DNA sample, Washington learned that his mother's bloodline is traced back to the Mende people of Sierra Leone and his father's to the Mbundu in Angola. To celebrate and honor this history, Washington, along with his Coalhouse Productions, is making a documentary chronicling his connection to Sierra Leone. This past May he visited the country, capturing on film its land and people. He was inducted into the Mende tribe as a tribal chief, Chief Gondobay Manga, in the village of Ngalu of the Bagbwe chiefdom.

Washington makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons and a daughter.