Focused, Zen, silent. Kerry Washington is all of these things as she performs an intense exercise move that would have weaker women grunting like Maria Sharapova returning a serve. After five years of dedication to a hard-core Pilates practice, the actress has abs of iron.

"Look at how strong she is!" says Pilates instructor Nonna Gleyzer in her calm, cozy West Hollywood studio, as her client tackles an advanced set of roll-back crunches without so much as a grimace. "And I don't give out compliments easily," adds Gleyzer. No doubt. The stern, self-described "body stylist" is a former member of Ukraine's rhythmic gymnastics team.

Spend a few hours with Kerry, 35, and you realize that she approaches Pilates the same way she stares down many of life's challenges: with a resolve that suggests nothing is impossible.

Take her work, for one. In Scandal—the first major network drama in nearly 40 years to feature an African-American woman as the lead—she regularly clocks 16-hour days playing a crisis-management consultant who had an affair with the president of the United States. Then there's Django Unchained, the highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino film (opening on Christmas Day and costarring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio), for which she summoned the mental toughness for her role as a 19th-century slave who endures physical torture.

But underneath that seemingly bulletproof (and totally toned) exterior, Kerry is caring and warm. "She thinks about everybody," says Scandal costar Darby Stanchfield, who likens Kerry to her on-camera character, the unstoppable yet quite nurturing Olivia Pope. "After shooting a day in five-inch heels, my calves and arches were splitting. She sent me a contact for her masseuse and was like, 'You've got to get that worked out.'"

Kerry's explanation for why she's so tuned in to the body is simple: "I've never met anybody who's taken Pilates and doesn't understand their own body better afterward," says Kerry, who had her first session, with Gleyzer, after she pinched a nerve in her neck and shoulder area while working out with "a very famous" Hollywood trainer. "I lost feeling in my right arm, and it scared the crap out of me."

Ever since, Pilates has been the centerpiece of Kerry's fitness repertoire, which also includes dance classes, Gyrotonic training, hiking, and the elliptical machine. Because Pilates decreases stress as it increases strength, Kerry finds the hour-long sessions to be efficient workouts that aren't punishing. "You don't even want to be in your own body when [you] show up at the gym—I didn't for years," says Kerry, who battled body-image issues in the past. "As women, we live in this culture where it's like, 'You have to fix this.' Pilates has allowed me to be focused on my appearance and my health in ways that are not abusive or critical."

Off the Scandal set and out of the Pilates studio, Kerry spends her rare free moments--we don't know how she has time for a social life!--looking out for other women's well-being too. She serves as a board member for V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women, and is an active member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, chaired by Michelle Obama. She spent several days this past year stumping for President Obama, which culminated with a speech at the Democratic National Convention in September. "Today there are people trying to take away rights that our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers fought for: our right to vote, our right to choose, affordable quality education, equal pay, access to health care," she said, standing at the podium, ever poised. "We the people can't let that happen!"

Back at a cafe in L.A., Kerry muses about how far women have come since the days of her Django character, Broomhilda. Olivia Pope "is arguably the most powerful woman in the United States, the opposite end of the spectrum with regard to education, power, and access. She is sort of the fantasy of Broomhilda," says Kerry.

Still, as unflappable as she seems, Olivia Pope, like most women, has a soft side. "At the end of the first episode, she's crying in a coat closet alone," says Kerry. "I think that's what a lot of us are dealing with in our lives--that we feel like we have to be so tough and so strong and have it all figured out. We live in a world where we do have the ability to be smart, bold, professional, talented women. But we also are vulnerable human beings, you know?"

Which brings us back to Pilates. Having a workout routine that strengthens and calms not just the body but also the mind helps Kerry achieve something most of us strive for: a life in balance.