Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. In a career spanning over four decades, Washington has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and two Silver Bears.[1] He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and in 2020 The New York Times named him the greatest actor of the 21st century.[2] In 2022, Washington received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Denzel Washington
After training at the American Conservatory Theater, 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). Washington won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his role as an American Civil War soldier in Glory (1989) and for Best Actor for playing a corrupt cop in Training Day (2001).[3] His other Oscar-nominated roles were 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).
He established himself as a leading man with starring roles 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), and American Gangster (2007). He starred in The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023). Washington directed and starred in the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2015).
Washington made his Broadway debut in Checkmates (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for starring in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences in 2010. He later directed, produced, and starred in the film adaptation in 2016. Washington has since returned to Broadway in the revivals of Lorraine Hansberry play A Raisin in the Sun (2014) and the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Early life and education
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on December 28, 1954. His mother, Lennis "Lynne", was a beauty parlor owner and operator born in Georgia and partly raised in Harlem, New York.[4][5][6][7] His father, Denzel Hayes Washington Sr., a native of Buckingham County, Virginia, was an ordained Pentecostal minister who was also an employee of the New York City Water Department, and worked at a local S. Klein department store.
Washington attended Pennington-Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon until 1968. When he was 14, his parents divorced and his mother sent him to the private preparatory school Oakland Military Academy in New Windsor, New York. Washington later said, "That decision changed my life, because I wouldn't have survived in the direction I was going. The guys I was hanging out with at the time, my running buddies, have now done maybe 40 years combined in the penitentiary. They were nice guys, but the streets got them."[8] After Oakland, he attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1970 to 1971.[5]
He 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."[9] Instead, he earned a BA in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977.[10] At Fordham, he played collegiate basketball as a guard[11] under coach P. J. Carlesimo.[12] After a period of indecision on which major to study and taking a semester off, Washington worked as creative arts director of the overnight summer camp at Camp Sloane YMCA in Lakeville, Connecticut. He participated in a staff talent show for the campers and a colleague suggested he try acting.[13]
Returning to Fordham that fall with a renewed purpose, Washington enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, where he was cast in the title roles in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones and Shakespeare's Othello. He then attended graduate school at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California, where he stayed for one year before returning to New York to begin a professional acting career.[14]
Personal life
Marriage and family
On June 25, 1983, Washington married Pauletta Pearson, whom he met on the set of his first screen work, the television film Wilma. They have four children: John David (born July 28, 1984), also an actor and a former football player,[68][69] Katia (born November 27, 1986) who graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in 2010, and twins Olivia and Malcolm (born April 10, 1991). Malcolm graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in film studies, and Olivia played a role in Lee Daniels's film The Butler. Malcolm is set to make his directorial debut with The Piano Lesson, with Denzel producing and John David starring in it.[70] In 1995, Washington and his wife renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Desmond Tutu officiating.[71]
Religious beliefs
He is Pentecostal Evangelical Christian and a member of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, located in Los Angeles.[72] He has considered becoming a preacher.[73] He stated in 1999, "A part of me still says, 'Maybe, Denzel, you're supposed to preach. Maybe you're still compromising.' I've had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I've been given seriously, and I want to use it for good."[74] In 1995, he donated US$2.5 million to help build the new West Angeles Church of God in Christ facility in Los Angeles.[75][76] Washington says he reads the Bible daily.[77]
Service and recognition
Washington has served as the national spokesman for Boys & Girls Clubs of America since 1993[78] and has appeared in public service announcements and awareness campaigns for the organization.[79] In addition, he has served as a board member for Boys & Girls Clubs of America since 1995.[80] Due to his philanthropic work with the Boys & Girls Club, PS 17X, a New York City Elementary School decided to officially name their school after Washington.
In mid-2004, Washington visited Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) at Fort Sam Houston, where he participated in a Purple Heart ceremony, presenting medals to three Army soldiers recovering from wounds they received while stationed in Iraq. He also visited the fort's Fisher House facilities, and after learning that it had exceeded its capacity, made a substantial donation to the Fisher House Foundation; this program focuses on building and providing homes for military personnel and their families free of charge while they receive medical care. Washington's other charitable contributions include US$1 million to Nelson Mandela's Children's Fund in 1995[81] and US$1 million to Wiley College to resuscitate the college's debate team.[82]
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 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 the group had held captive from 2003 to 2008.[83] That effort by FARC was unsuccessful.[84]
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".[85] In 2011, he donated US$2 million to Fordham for an endowed chair of the theater department, as well as US$250,000 to establish a theater-specific scholarship at the school. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007[86] and an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania on May 16, 2011.[87]
On October 11, 2021, the United States Army made Washington the 2021 Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army at the Annual Association of the U.S. Army conference for his work with the Fisher House Foundation (providing free homes for military families while receiving medical care). Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston presented Washington with the award and said that Washington represented everything he was looking for in this year's honoree: humility, dedication to soldiers, and respect for the Army.[88] In 2022, Washington received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[89]