Denzel Washington
at press conference for The Hurricane, 2000 Berlinale.
Born	Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. December 28, 1954 (1954-12-28) (age 54) Mt. Vernon, New York, United States
Occupation	Film/Television actor, screenwriter, Film director, Film producer
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Pauletta Pearson (1983-present)

When Denzel Washington was 20 years old, he was having a tough time. A college dropout who'd come back from a heroin addiction that started when he was just 14, Denzel had lost his way. But one afternoon, while at his mother's beauty shop in Mount Vernon, New York, Denzel was shocked back onto the right track. There, one of his mother's customers wrote this prophecy on a piece of paper: "That boy is going to speak to millions of people."

Clearly, the woman known in the community as "the Prophetess" knew what she was talking about. Denzel has gone on to make more than 35 films, including his latest, "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3." See what other surprising facts we've uncovered about the Oscar-winning actor.

See surprising facts about Denzel Washington through the years >>

But What He Really Wanted to Do Was Write Moved by the words of "the Prophetess," Washington entered Fordham University, but he didn't major in acting. During his college years, he studied biology (hoping to become a doctor), political science, and ultimately journalism. But Denzel had caught the acting bug while a Boys Club camp counselor, and he started to perform in school productions on the side, winning the title roles in both "The Emperor Jones" and "Othello." When he graduated in 1977, he didn't pursue a career in journalism, but instead accepted a scholarship for the graduate program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where he studied for a year. Denzel did get to experience a bit of the life of a journalist, however, when he played a reporter in 1993's "The Pelican Brief" and shadowed Washington Post writers while researching the part.

TV Was Not Enough Denzel was also able to live out his dreams of being a doctor -- at least on the small screen. After a successful debut in movies with the comedy "Carbon Copy" and an Obie award-winning performance in the off-Broadway show "A Soldier's Play," Denzel landed the role of Phillip Chandler on the beloved TV show "St. Elsewhere." But he spent his summers making movies and was still a regular cast member on "Elsewhere" when he filmed his first Oscar-nominated role, Steve Biko in 1987's "Cry Freedom."

He's Handsome -- It's Scientifically Proven Sure, we all know that Denzel Washington is a good-looking guy, but in the early '90s "Newsweek" magazine used the sexy superstar as their primary example of physical perfection in an article titled "Biological Basis of the Perceptions of Beauty." So, according to science, what makes Denzel so beautiful? Symmetry. Attraction, they say, is grounded in good proportions, and Washington has them all: perfectly aligned eyes, a centered nose and lips, and an even hairline and ears. After a far less clinical analysis, in 1996 People magazine named Denzel the Sexiest Man Alive. We concur with both studies.

His Record-Breaking Oscars With 1990's Best Supporting Actor win for "Glory," Denzel Washington became the third African-American actor to win a competitive Oscar. The first was Hattie McDaniel, who took home the Best Supporting Actress statue for Mammy in "Gone with the Wind." She was followed by Sidney Poitier, the Best Actor for 1963's "Lilies of the Field." In 2002, with "Training Day," Denzel joined Poitier as a Best Actor winner, and with nominations for "Cry Freedom," "Malcolm X," and "The Hurricane," Denzel is the most-winning as well as the most-nominated African-American actor in Academy history.

He Taught Tom Hanks Everything He Knows OK, maybe he didn't teach Tom Hanks EVERYTHING he knows... but Hanks has said that working with Denzel on "Philadelphia" was like going to film school. And even though Hanks won an Oscar for that film, and Denzel did not, Tom gives major credit to his co-star, saying he learned more from watching Washington act than he had from any other actor. So in 2006, Hanks probably wasn't upset or surprised when Washington stole his spot as America's Favorite Movie Star in the Harris Poll that Tom had topped the year before.

He's Loyal to His Directors Denzel Washington is a loyal dude. Almost half of the roughly 35 films he's made in the last 30 years have been directed by the same six guys. He worked twice with Jonathan Demme ("Philadelphia," "The Manchurian Candidate") and Norman Jewison ("A Soldier's Story," "The Hurricane"). He made three films for director Ed Zwick ("Glory," "The Siege," and "Courage Under Fire"). And not only has he worked four times each with Spike Lee and Tony Scott, he also has plans to make movies with both of them again in the next couple of years. And the sixth director? Well, he must've enjoyed working with first-time director Denzel Washington on "Antwone Fisher," because he teamed with him again in 2007's "The Great Debaters."

He Does It for the Girls and Boys On Denzel Washington's sixth birthday, he joined the Boys and Girls Club of America and was an active member for 12 years. As a camp counselor for the organization, he appeared on the stage for the first time, and he credits the group for his success in later life. In 1992, he became a spokes- person for the Club and has since shot four public service announcements on their behalf and served on their Board of Governors. In 2004, the organization awarded him the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award (their highest honor) for his years of support. We wonder if it meant as much to him as his first BAGC nod: he was chosen as "Police Chief for a Day" when he was a kid.

No Love for Julia Roberts Denzel had several opportunities in his early career to have love scenes with some of Hollywood's sexiest starlets, but he turned a few beauties down. First, in 1993's "Pelican Brief," Denzel refused a sex scene with Julia Roberts because he didn't want to disappoint his female African-American fans. Next in 1995's "Virtuosity," Washington declined an on-screen kiss with Kelly Lynch, because he thought the white male audience wouldn't be into it. Finally in 1989's "The Mighty Quinn," Denzel also skipped an on-screen lip-lock with Mimi Rogers. Milla Jovovich, on the other hand, got lucky. She and Denzel had a passionate scene in 1998's "He Got Game."

He's an X-Man Denzel Washington famously starred in the title role of Spike Lee's 1992 biopic "Malcolm X," but it wasn't the first time he'd portrayed the outspoken activist. In the early '80s, he was cast in the same role in the off-Broadway show "When the Chickens Came Home to Roost." While Denzel did win some recognition for the part, he earned one of the highest honors for his film portrayal: he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Inexplicably, he lost to Al Pacino for "Scent of a Woman." Hoo-ah. Still Denzel's connection to the activist stretches beyond the one film role. He has a much better reminder of the man and the movie: he named his son Malcolm in X's honor.

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and film producer. He has garnered much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures, such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas and Herman Boone.

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African American man (after Sidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film Training Day.^[1]

 Early life

Denzel Washington was born in Mount Vernon, near New York City, in 1954. His mother, Lennis "Lynne", was a beauty parlor-owner and operator born in Georgia and partly raised in Harlem. His father, Reverend Denzel Washington, Sr., was an ordained Pentecostal minister and also worked for the Water Department and at a local department store, "S. Klein".^[2][3]

Washington attended grammar school at Pennington-Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon, and in 1968, at the age of 14, he was sent to a private preparatory school, Oakland Military Academy, in New Windsor in New York State, followed by Mainland High School, a public high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1970-71.^[2] Washington was interested in attending Texas Tech University: "I grew up in the Boys Club in Mount Vernon, and we were the Red Raiders. So when I was in high school, I wanted to go to Texas Tech in Lubbock just because they were called the Red Raiders and their uniforms looked like ours."^[4] Nevertheless, Washington earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977. At Fordham, he played collegiate basketball as a Freshman guard^[5] under coach P. J. Carlesimo.^[6] After a period of bouncing from major to major and briefly dropping out of school for a semester, Washington worked as a counselor at an overnight summer camp called Camp Sloane YMCA in Lakeville CT. After participating in a staff talent show for the campers, a colleague suggested he try acting. Returning to Fordham that fall with a renewed purpose and focus, he enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, snagging the title character in both Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, and William Shakespeare's Othello, where he earned rave reviews. Upon graduation, he was given a scholarship to attend graduate school at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he stayed for one year before deciding to return to New York to begin a professional acting career.^[7]

 Career

 Early career

Washington's signature in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Washington spent the summer of 1976 in Southern Maryland, in St. Mary's City, acting summer stock theater in the Wings of the Morning, the Maryland State play. Shortly after graduating from Fordham, Washington made his professional acting debut in the 1977 made-for-television movie Wilma. He made his film debut in the 1981 film Carbon Copy.

His big break came when he starred in the popular television hospital drama, St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. He was one of a few actors to appear on the series for its entire six-year run. In 1987, after appearing in several minor television, film and stage roles, Washington starred as South African Anti-Apartheid political activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom, a role for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, Washington won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing a defiant, self-possessed ex-slave in the film Glory. Also that same year, he gave a powerful performance as the conflicted and disillusioned Reuben James, a Caribbean-born British soldier who, despite a distinguished military career abroad, turns to a life of vigilantism and violence upon his return to civilian life in For Queen and Country.

 1990s

In March, 1990 he starred in the Spike Lee movie Mo' Better Blues as Bleek Gilliam. In the Summer of 1992 he starred in a movie called Mississippi Masala where he played the character Demetrius Williams. Washington played one of his most critically acclaimed roles in 1992's Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee. His performance as the Black Nationalist leader earned him an Oscar nomination. Both the influential film critic Roger Ebert and the highly acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese called the movie one of the ten best films made during the 1990s.

Malcolm X transformed Washington's career, turning him, practically overnight, into one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, such as an offer to play Martin Luther King, Jr., because he wanted to avoid being typecast. The next year, in 1993, he took another risk in his career by playing Joe Miller, the homophobic lawyer of a homosexual man with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks. During the early and mid 1990s, Washington became a renowned Hollywood leading man, starring in several successful thrillers, including The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, as well as in comedy Much Ado About Nothing and alongside legendary singer Whitney Houston in the romantic drama The Preacher's Wife.

While filming the 1995 film Virtuosity, Washington refused to kiss his white female co-star, Kelly Lynch, during a romantic scene between their characters. During an interview, Lynch stated that while she wanted to, "Denzel felt very strongly about it. I felt there is no problem with interracial romance. But Denzel felt strongly that the white males, who were the target audience of this movie, would not want to see him kiss a white woman." Lynch further stated, "That's a shame. I feel badly about it. I keep thinking that the world's changed, but it hasn't changed quick enough."^[8] A similar situation also occurred during the filming of The Pelican Brief when Julia Roberts expressed in an interview her desire to have her character in the film engaged in a romantic relationship with Washington's character. And an additional occurrence was in the 1989 film The Mighty Quinn where Washington's Quinn character did not kiss Mimi Rogers' alluring Hadley character. However, in 1998, Washington starred in a scene of a sexual nature with actress Milla Jovovich, in Spike Lee's He Got Game.

In 1999, Washington starred in The Hurricane, a movie about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was overturned after he had spent almost 20 years in prison. Various newspaper articles have suggested that the controversy over the film's accuracy may have cost Washington an Oscar for which he was nominated. Washington did receive a Golden Globe Award in 2000 and a 'Silberner Bär' (Silver Berlin Bear) at the Berlin International Film Festival for the role.

He also presented the Arthur Ashe ESPY Award to Loretta Claiborne for her courage. He appeared as himself in the end of The Loretta Claiborne Story movie. Washington is often cited as an example of human physical attractiveness due to the symmetry of his facial features.^[9][10]

 2000s

In 2000, Washington appeared in the crowd-pleasing Disney film, Remember the Titans, which grossed over $100 million at the United States box office. He was nominated and won an Oscar for Best Actor for his next film, the 2001 cop thriller, Training Day, as Det. Alonzo Harris, a rogue LAPD cop with questionable law-enforcement tactics. The role was a much-acclaimed change-of-pace for the actor, who was known for playing many heroic leads. Washington was the second African-American performer ever to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor (for Training Day), the first being Sidney Poitier, who happened to receive an Honorary Academy Award the same night that Washington won for Best Actor. Washington holds the record for most Oscar nominations by an actor of African descent; so far he has earned five.

After appearing in 2002's box office success, the health care-themed John Q., Washington directed his first film, a well-reviewed drama called Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Between 2003 and 2004, Washington appeared in a series of thrillers that performed generally well at the box office, including Out of Time, Man on Fire, and The Manchurian Candidate.^[11] In 2006 he starred in Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, and Déjà Vu released in November 2006.

In 2007, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster. Later, Denzel directed and starred in the drama The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker.

 Return to theater

Washington after a performance of Julius Caesar in May 2005

In 2005, after a 15-year hiatus (he was seen last in the summer of 1990 in the title role of the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Richard III) , Washington appeared onstage again in another Shakespeare play as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar on Broadway. The production's limited run was a consistent sell-out, averaging over 100% attendance capacity nightly despite receiving universally terrible reviews.^[12]

 Upcoming projects

Washington will next star as New York City subway security chief Zachary "Z" Garber in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a remake of the 70's thriller, The Taking of Pelham One, Two Three, opposite John Travolta and directed by Tony Scott, opening in June 2009.

He is also attached to star as CIA intelligence officer Brandon Scofield in the film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's Cold War spy thriller The Matarese Circle, and in February 2009, he will begin filming The Book of Eli, a post-Apocalyptic drama set in the near future.

Washington is set to star as an veteran railroad engineer in the action film, Unstoppable, which is about a unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train that is carrying dangerous liquids and poisonous gases that is set wipe out a city so the engineer and a young train conductor on another freight train must find a way to stop it. The film will be directed by Tony Scott and it will be the fifth collaboration between the two. Previous films include Crimson Tide (1995), Man On Fire (2004), Deja Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009). Chris Pine is in talks to join Washington and Scott as a young train conductor who also helps the engineer to stop the train. Production is set to begin in the Fall of 2009.

 Personal life

In 1983, Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson (now Pauletta Washington), whom he met on the set of his first screen role, Wilma. The couple has four children: John David (b. July 28, 1984), who signed a football contract with the St. Louis Rams in May 2006 after playing college football at Morehouse;^[13] Katia (b. November 1987), who is attending Yale University, and twins Olivia and Malcolm (named in honor of Malcolm X)^[14](b. April 10, 1991). In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.^{[citation needed]}

Washington and his family visited soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He later made a sizable donation to the Fisher Houses, small hotels that provide rooms for soldiers' families while the soldiers are hospitalized. In October 2006, he published a bestseller entitled A Hand to Guide Me, featuring actors, politicians, athletes, and other public figures recalling their childhood mentors. The book was published in commemoration of the Boys and Girls Club of America's centennial anniversary, because Washington had participated in the club as a child.^{[citation needed]}

Washington is a devout Christian.^[15] He goes to church with actress Angela Bassett at LA's West Angeles Church of God in Christ.^{[citation needed]} The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia named Washington as one of three people (the others being directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore) with whom they were willing to negotiate for the release of three defense contractors that the group had held captive from 2003 to 2008.^[16]

On May 18, 1991, Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, for having "impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent".^{[citation needed]} He also was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007.^{[citation needed]}

 Filmography

 Awards and nominations

• 1993 - won Silver Bear (Best Actor) for Malcolm X at the Berlin International Film Festival
• 2000 - won Silver Bear (Best Actor) for The Hurricane at the Berlin International Film Festival
• Academy Awards
  • 2002, Best Actor in a Leading Role: Training Day (Winner)
  • 2000, Best Actor in a Leading Role: The Hurricane (Nominee)
  • 1992, Best Actor in a Leading Role: Malcolm X (Nominee)
  • 1990, Best Supporting Actor: Glory (Winner)
  • 1988, Best Supporting Actor: Cry Freedom (Nominee)
• BET Awards
  • 2006, Best Actor (Nominated)
  • 2004, Best Actor (Winner)
  • 2003, Best Actor (Nominated)
  • 2002, Best Actor (Nominated)
  • 2001, Best Actor (Winner)
• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006, Outstanding Lead Actor: Inside Man (Nominated)
• Golden Globe
  • 2008, Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture: American Gangster (Nominated)
  • 2000, Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture: The Hurricane (Winner)
  • 1990, Best Supporting Actor: Glory (Winner)
• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2008, Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture: American Gangster (Nominated)

 References

 External links

• Denzel Washington at the Internet Movie Database
• Denzel Washington at the TCM Movie Database
• Denzel Washington at the Internet Broadway Database
• Denzel Washington at People.com
• Denzel Washington being interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live
• Men's Vogue profile of Denzel Washington
• Jason Solomons, "Film Weekly Meets Denzel Washington" (downloadable podcast), The Guardian, 8 November 2007
• Denzel Washington: Criminally good, video interview for American Gangster with stv.tv, November 2007
• Denzel Washington movies at Movie Information