Denzel Washington
Biography
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times declaring him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career, he has received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Washington has been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. After training at the American Conservatory Theatre, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in performances off-Broadway. He first came to prominence in the NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) and in the war film A Soldier's Story (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington also acted in Mo' Better Blues (1990), Mississippi Masala (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Courage Under Fire (1996), Remember the Titans (2000), Man on Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), American Gangster (2007), and The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023). Washington directed and starred in the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2016). On stage, he has acted in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at the Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play Checkmates (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a disillusioned working-class father in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences (2010). He has also acted in the Broadway revivals of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Known For
Keith Frazier
Inside Man
Alonzo
Training Day
Matt Lee Whitlock
Out of Time
Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Coach Herman Boone
Remember the Titans
Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
Courage Under Fire
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
The Hurricane
Eli
The Book of Eli
Frank Lucas
American Gangster
Xavier Quinn
The Mighty Quinn
Dudley
The Preacher's Wife
Doug Carlin
Déjà Vu
John Quincy Archibald
John Q
Don Pedro of Aragon
Much Ado About Nothing
Easy Rawlins
Devil in a Blue Dress
Lt. Commander Ronald "Ron" Hunter
Crimson Tide
John Hobbes
Fallen
Jake Shuttlesworth
He Got Game
Lincoln Rhyme
The Bone Collector
John W. Creasy
Man on Fire
Parker Barnes
Virtuosity
Nick Styles
Ricochet
Private First Class Peterson
A Soldier's Story
Gray Grantham
The Pelican Brief
Joe Miller
Philadelphia
Steve Biko
Cry Freedom
Pvt. Trip
Glory
Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
The Siege
Dr. Jerome Davenport
Antwone Fisher
Macrinus
Gladiator II
Melvin B. Tolson
The Great Debaters
Major Bennett Ezekiel Marco
The Manchurian Candidate
Demetrius Williams
Mississippi Masala
Napoleon Stone
Heart Condition
Bleek Gilliam
Mo' Better Blues
George McKenna
The George McKenna Story
Reuben
For Queen & Country
Frank Barnes
Unstoppable
Walter Garber
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Arnold Billings
Power
Martin Sawyer
License to Kill
Robert McCall
The Equalizer 3
Roger Porter
Carbon Copy
Tobin Frost
Safe House
Robert McCall
The Equalizer
Robert 'Bobby' Trench
2 Guns
Whip Whitaker
Flight
Hannibal Barca
Untitled Hannibal Project
David King
Highest 2 Lowest
Sam Chisolm
The Magnificent Seven
Robert McCall
The Equalizer 2
Narrator (voice)
Rabbit Ears - Anansi
Narrator (voice)
Rabbit Ears - John Henry
Robert Eldridge, age 18
Wilma
Roman Soldier / Volscian Soldier
Coriolanus
Kirk
Flesh & Blood
Humpty Dumpty / The Crooked Man (voice)
Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special
Self
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
Self
Sidney
Self
Giving Voice
Troy Maxson
Fences
Narrator
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
Self
Number 4
John Coltrane (voice)
Chasing Trane
Roman J. Israel
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Narrator
Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Joe 'Deke' Deacon
The Little Things
Self
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
Self (archive footage)
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
Self (archive footage)
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
Self
Denzel Washington: American Icon
Self
Straight from the Streets
Self
The Making of Gladiator II
Black Panther 3
Robert McCall
The Equalizer 4
Robert McCall
The Equalizer 5
Self
The Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision
Self
The Making of 'Crimson Tide'
Self
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
Here Comes the Flood
Self (archive footage)
Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act
Self
Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster'
Self
Denzel Washington: Reel Life
Self - Host
NBA at 50
Denzel Washington: Falling Forward
Untitled Black Panther Sequel
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
87
Gender
Male
Birthday
1954-12-28
Place of Birth
Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Also Known As
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr.