Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington
Washington in 2018
Born	Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (1954-12-28) December 28, 1954 (age 69) Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
Education	Fordham University (BA) American Conservatory Theater
Occupations	Actor director producer
Years active	1975–present
Works	Full list
Spouse	Pauletta Pearson ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	4, including John David, Malcolm and Olivia
Awards	Full list
Honors	Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022)

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.^[1] Over his career 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 honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.^[2]

After training at the American Conservatory Theater, Washington began his career in theater, 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 American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001).^[3] He was Oscar-nominated for his roles 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 in Hollywood, Washington also acted in numerous films including 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), The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023), The Magnificent Seven (2016), and Gladiator II (2024). Washington made his directorial film debut with Antwone Fisher (2002) followed by The Great Debaters (2007), Fences (2016), and A Journal for Jordan (2021).

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 play A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).