Susan Kelechi Watson studied acting in England thanks to Denzel Washington

Actress Susan Kelechi Watson was able to study William Shakespeare at England’s prestigious Oxford University thanks to Denzel Washington and Phylicia Rashad.
The actress attended college at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and was given the opportunity to study overseas for a summer with a group of her classmates. However, they were not able to afford the trip until Washington and Rashad stepped in and donated cash.
“I remember a friend of mine reached out to Phylicia Rashad, who is also an alumni of Howard, and was on the phone with (her) and she was like, ‘Oh no you’re going… I will call you back’,” Susan told Live! with Kelly and Ryan on Tuesday (23Jan18).
“The next thing you know she calls back and says, ‘Denzel and I are paying for you guys to go’. I’m happy to say he paid for my scholarship to go and we had this amazing summer… I saw Mr. Washington years later and I said, ‘Excuse me Mr. Washington, you paid for my scholarship to go to London’, and he was like, ‘You’re welcome…'”
Watson, who now stars on hit show This Is Us, recently played grown-up Blue Ivy Carter in her dad JAY-Z’s video for Family Feud.
“Ava DuVernay, who is the director of the video, cast me and it was super secret…,” she added. “She calls and she says, ‘Susan, there’s this project…,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, I will do it’. She then tells me, ‘It’s JAY-Z’s video and you’re playing Blue Ivy’. So again I said, ‘Yes’. I was surrounded by amazing women.”