Olivia Carolyn Pope is a fictional character portrayed by Kerry Washington, created by Shonda Rhimes and partially based on Judy Smith for the political drama television series Scandal. Pope is a Washington, D.C.-based crisis manager who runs her own firm, Pope & Associates, that specializes in political situations. The character has become a widely-watched fashion and style trendsetter.
Biography[]
When Olivia was twelve years old, her mother "Maya" was on board Flight 522, en route to London when it went down. Believed to be an engine failure, Olivia believed that her mother died in the plane crash.
Olivia seems to have been mentored both by Cyrus Beene and Verna Thornton, molding her into who she is today.
She worked as a media relations consultant on Fitz's campaign. Her professional relationship with President Fitzgerald Grant III led to an extramarital affair, which she had intended to end after Fitz' inauguration into office. After he won the election, she became his Assistant for Communications, also known as the The White House Director of Communications. They continue their relationship, but just as they reveal their feelings for each other, Olivia realizes that Mellie, Fitz's wife, is aware of the affair. Olivia then resigns from the White House and forms Olivia Pope & Associates.
Along with Cyrus, Mellie, Verna, and Hollis Doyle, Olivia was part of the election-rigging conspiracy Defiance, which stole the election and put Fitz into the White House.
Olivia and Verna, with Huck's help, saved Lindsay Dwyer after Hollis Doyle used Becky Flynn to frame Lindsay for the bombing of Cytron, which killed Lindsay's boyfriend, Jesse Tyler and six of his fellow co-workers at Cytron.
Over two years later Olivia sent Harrison Wright to hire Lindsay Dwyer now Quinn Perkins to be the newest associate at Olivia Pope & Associates. Olivia and Huck were the only two of the associates that knew who Quinn really was.
Personal life[]
Olivia Carolyn Pope was raised by her parents Maya Lewis & Eli Pope (aka Rowan Pope). Her mother died when she was twelve years old in a plane crash. After her mother's death she never returned to reside in her family's home. Olivia has a preference for older, powerful, prominent men. After graduating college she got a reputation as a party girl spending time with older men on the DC circuit: Ambassadors, Lobbyist, Cabinet Secretaries. As Jeannine said, "A nice lineup of silverfox's."
In 2006 Olivia had weekly Sunday dinners with her father, Eli Pope, she agreed to do dinners with him so he'd pay for her law school tuition. They briefly stopped having dinners when Olivia learned what her father really did for a living. But she returned for a few more dinners and introduced Eli to Edison Davis, her fiancé, she brought Edison only to get Huck released. After Edison was in a car accident that Eli arranged Olivia stopped having dinners with him.
Flash forward to present day - she wanted the same thing from her father again, to get Jake Ballard released from the hole. This time Olivia had to have Jeannine Locke admit that she had an affair with the President, but before she could President Fitzgerald Grant held a press conference and admitted to the affair. Part of this deal was to start the Sunday dinner's again. Will that happen?
Education[]
Olivia attended all of the best boarding schools: Saint Anne's & Surval Montreux. She then attended Princeton where she received her undergraduate degree in Political Science. She moved on to Georgetown Law where she met Cyrus for the first time.