Denzel Washington
Birthdate: Dec 28, 1954
Birthplace: Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at Fordham University, intent on a career in journalism. However, he caught the acting bug while appearing in student drama productions and, upon graduation, he moved to San Francisco and enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater. He left A.C.T. after only one year to seek work as an actor. His first paid acting role was in a summer stock theater stage production in St. Mary's City, Maryland. The play was "Wings of the Morning", which is about the founding of the colony of Maryland (now the state of Maryland) and the early days of the Maryland colonial assembly (a legislative body). He played the part of a real historical character, Mathias Da Sousa, although much of the dialogue was created. Afterwards he began to pursue screen roles in earnest. With his acting versatility and powerful presence, he had no difficulty finding work in numerous television productions.
He made his first big screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Through the 1980s, he worked in both movies and television and was chosen for the plum role of Dr. Philip Chandler in NBC's hit medical series St. Elsewhere (1982), a role that he would play for six years. In 1989, his film career began to take precedence when he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tripp, the runaway slave in Edward Zwick's powerful historical masterpiece Glory (1989).
Washington has received much critical acclaim for his film work since the 1990s, including his portrayals of real-life figures such as South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in Cry Freedom (1987), Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992), boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in The Hurricane (1999), football coach Herman Boone in Remember the Titans (2000), poet and educator Melvin B. Tolson in The Great Debaters (2007), and drug kingpin Frank Lucas in American Gangster (2007). Malcolm X and The Hurricane garnered him Oscar nominations for Best Actor, before he finally won that statuette in 2002 for his lead role in Training Day (2001).
Through the 1990s, Denzel also co-starred in such big budget productions as The Pelican Brief (1993), Philadelphia (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996), and Courage Under Fire (1996), a role for which he was paid $10 million. He continued to define his onscreen persona as the tough, no-nonsense hero through the 2000s in films like Out of Time (2003), Man on Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Cerebral and meticulous in his film work, he made his debut as a director with Antwone Fisher (2002); he also directed The Great Debaters (2007) and Fences (2016).
In 2010, Washington headlined The Book of Eli (2010), a post-Apocalyptic drama. Later that year, he starred as a veteran railroad engineer in the action film Unstoppable (2010), about an unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train carrying dangerous cargo. The film was his fifth and final collaboration with director Tony Scott, following Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. He has also been a featured actor in the films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and has been a frequent collaborator of director Spike Lee.
In 2012, Washington starred in Flight (2012), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in Safe House (2012), and prepared for his role by subjecting himself to a torture session that included waterboarding. In 2013, Washington starred in 2 Guns (2013), alongside Mark Wahlberg. In 2014, he starred in The Equalizer (2014), an action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, based on the television series of same name starring Edward Woodward. During this time period, he also took on the role of producer for some of his films, including The Book of Eli and Safe House.
In 2016, he was selected as the recipient for the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.
He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Pauletta Washington, and their four children.
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Filmography
actor
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Previous (56)
- 2024 | Gladiator IIasMacrinus
Gladiator II
After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.
- 2023 | The Equalizer 3asRobert McCall
The Equalizer 3
Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the ...
- 2021 | The Tragedy of MacbethasMacbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth
A Scottish lord becomes convinced by a trio of witches that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife supports him in his plans of seizing power.
- 2021 | The Little ThingsasJoe 'Deke' Deacon
The Little Things
Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.
- 2018 | UnstoppableasFrank
Unstoppable
Dong-Chul (Don Lee) and Ji-Soo (Song Ji-Hyo) are a happily married couple. One day, Dong-Chul comes home to find his house in disarray and his wife is missing.
- 2018 | The Equalizer 2asRobert McCall
The Equalizer 2
Robert McCall serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, but how far will he go when that is someone he loves?
- 2017 | The 40 Year Journey of Marvin L. Winans
- 2017 | Roman J. Israel, Esq.asRoman J. Israel, Esq.
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.
- 2017 | Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane DocumentaryasJohn Coltrane
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
An exploration of the global power and impact of the music of John Coltrane where the passions, experiences and forces that shaped his life and revolutionary sounds are revealed.
- 2016 |
- 2016 | The Magnificent SevenasChisolm
The Magnificent Seven
Seven gunmen from a variety of backgrounds are brought together by a vengeful young widow to protect her town from the private army of a destructive industrialist.
- 2014 | The EqualizerasRobert McCall
The Equalizer
A man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him cannot stand idly by when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters.
- 2013 |
- 2012 |
- 2012 | Safe HouseasTobin Frost
Safe House
A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.
- 2010 | The Book of Elias Eli
- 2009 | The Taking of Pelham 123as Walter Garber
- 2007 | The 100 Best Black Movies (Ever)
- 2007 | The Great Debaters
- 2007 | The Great Debatersas Melvin B. Tolson
- 2007 | American Gangsteras Frank Lucas
- 2006 | Deja Vuas Doug Carlin
- 2006 | Inside Manas Detective Keith Frazier
- 2004 | The Manchurian Candidateas Ben Marco
- 2004 | Man on Fireas John W. Creasy
- 2003 | Out of Timeas Matt Lee Whitlock
- 2002 | Antwone Fisher
- 2002 | Antwone Fisher
- 2002 | Antwone Fisheras Dr. Jerome Davenport
- 2002 | John Qas John Quincy Archibald
- 2001 | Training Dayas Alonzo
- 2000 | Remember the TitansasCoach Herman Boone
Remember the Titans
The true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit.
- 1999 | The Hurricaneas Rubin Carter
- 1999 | The Bone Collectoras Lincoln Rhyme
- 1998 | The Siegeas Anthony Hubbard
- 1998 | He Got Gameas Jake Shuttlesworth
- 1998 | Fallenas John Hobbes
- 1996 | The Preacher's Wifeas Dudley
- 1996 | Courage Under Fireas Nat Serling
- 1995 | Devil in a Blue Dressas Easy Rawlins
- 1995 | Virtuosityas Lt. Parker Barnes
- 1995 | Crimson Tideas Hunter
- 1993 | Philadelphiaas Joe Miller
- 1993 | The Pelican Briefas Gray Grantham
- 1992 | Malcolm Xas Malcolm X
- 1991 | Mississippi Masalaas Demetrius
- 1991 | Ricochetas Nick Styles
- 1990 | Mo' Better Bluesas Bleek Gilliam
- 1990 | Heart Conditionas Napoleon Stone
- 1989 |
- 1988 | For Queen & Countryas Reuben James
- 1989 | The Mighty Quinnas Xavier Quinn
- 1987 | Cry Freedomas Steve Biko
- 1986 | Poweras Arnold Billings
- 1984 | A Soldier's Storyas Private First Class Peterson
- 1981 | Carbon Copyas Roger Porter
director
Previous (1)
- 2021 | A Journal for Jordan
A Journal for Jordan
1st Sgt. Charles Monroe King, before he is killed in action in Baghdad, authors a journal for his son intended to tell him how to live a decent life despite growing up without a father.
producer
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- 2020 | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
When Ma Rainey, the "Mother of the Blues," makes a record in a studio in Chicago, 1927, tensions boil between her, her white agent and producer, and bandmates.
