Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington
Washington at press conference of The Hurricane, 2000 Berlinale.
Born	Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, producer
Years active	1977-present
Spouse	Pauletta Pearson (1983-)
Awards	Silver Bear for Best Actor 1992 Malcolm X 1999 The Hurricane

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28 1954) is an American actor and director. 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 "Hurricane" 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 Black 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.

Early life

Denzel Washington was born in Mt. Vernon, New York. His mother, Lennis "Lynne", was a beauty parlor-owner and operator born in Georgia and 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". When Washington was fourteen his parents' marriage took a turn for the worse and he and his older sister were sent away to boarding school so that they would not be exposed to their parents' eventual divorce.

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." 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 under coach P. J. Carlesimo. 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 Sloan 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.

Career

Early career

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

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 the Summer of 1990 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 comedies (Much Ado About Nothing) and romantic dramas (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." 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.

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. 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. Next, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster and directed and starred in The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker.

Return to theater

In 2005, after a 15-year hiatus (he was last seen 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.

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 have 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; Katia (b. November 1987), who is attending Yale University, and twins Olivia and Malcolm (named in honor of Malcolm X)(b. April 10, 1991). In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.

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 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.

Washington is a devout Christian.

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.

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

Upcoming projects

Washington will next star as New York subway security chief Zach "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 July 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 January 2009 will begin filming The Book of Eli, a post-Apocalyptic drama set in the near future.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1981	Carbon Copy	Roger Porter
1984	License To Kill	Martin Sawyer	Lifetime Movie
1984	A Soldier's Story	Pfc. Melvin Peterson
1986	Hard Lessons aka The George McKenna Story	George McKenna
	Power	Arnold Billings	Image Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1987	Cry Freedom	Steve Biko	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination
1989	The Mighty Quinn	Xavier Quinn
	For Queen and Country	Reuben James
	Glory	Pvt. Trip	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1990	Heart Condition	Napoleon Stone
	Mo' Better Blues	Bleek Gilliam
1991	Ricochet	Nick Styles
1992	Mississippi Masala	Demetrius Williams
	Malcolm X	Malcolm X	Academy Award for Best Actor nomination
1993	Much Ado About Nothing	Don Pedro of Aragon
	The Pelican Brief	Gray Grantham
	Philadelphia	Joe Miller
1995	Crimson Tide	Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
	Virtuosity	Lt. Parker Barnes
	Devil in a Blue Dress	Easy Rawlins
1996	Courage Under Fire	Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling
	The Preacher's Wife	Dudley
1998	Fallen	Detective John Hobbes
	He Got Game	Jake Shuttlesworth
	The Siege	Special Agent Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
1999	The Bone Collector	Lincoln Rhyme
	The Hurricane	Rubin "Hurricane" Carter	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Academy Award for Best Actor nomination
2000	Remember the Titans	Coach Herman Boone
	The Loretta Claiborne Story	Himself
2001	Training Day	Detective Alonzo Harris	Academy Award for Best Actor
2002	John Q	John Quincy Archibald
	Antwone Fisher	Dr. Jerome Davenport	also as director
2003	Out of Time	Police Chief Matthias Lee Whitlock
2004	Man on Fire	John Creasy
	The Manchurian Candidate	Major Ben Marco
2006	Inside Man	Detective Keith Frazier
	Déjà Vu	Special Agent Doug Carlin
2007	American Gangster	Frank Lucas	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama nomination
	The Great Debaters	Melvin B. Tolson	also as director
2009	The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3	Zachary "Z" Garber

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)
  • 1993, 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)

External links

• Denzel Washington at IMDb
• 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