Denzel Washington
Acting
- Born:
- 1954-12-28
- Place of birth:
- Mount Vernon, New York, USA
Biography
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, an Actor Award, two Golden Globes, two Silver Bears and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times named Washington the greatest actor of the 21st century. He has also been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2025, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $5.1 billion worldwide. After training at the American Conservatory Theater, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in Off-Broadway performances. 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 playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). 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). Washington has starred in other notable films, including The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia (both 1993); Crimson Tide, Devil in a Blue Dress (both 1995); He Got Game (1998); Remember the Titans (2000); Man on Fire (2004); Déjà Vu, Inside Man (both 2006); American Gangster (2007); Unstoppable, The Book of Eli (both 2010); The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023), Gladiator II (2024), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Washington has also directed the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), Fences (2016), and A Journal for Jordan (2021). On stage, he has acted in The Public Theater productions of Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990). 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) and Othello (2025), Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Known For
Filmography
Black Panther 3
Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage
Denzel Washington: Falling Forward
Highest 2 Lowest
Number One on the Call Sheet
The Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision
The Making of Gladiator II
Gladiator II
Denzel Washington: American Icon
Hollywood Black
The Equalizer 3
Sidney
Whitney, a Look Back
Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Val
The Little Things
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
Giving Voice
Denzel Washington: Reel Life
The Equalizer 2
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Chasing Trane
Fences
The Magnificent Seven
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
The Equalizer
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2 Guns
Circus Halligalli
Flight
Safe House
Unstoppable
The Book of Eli
Live from Studio Five
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster'
The Great Debaters
American Gangster
The Graham Norton Show
Déjà Vu
Inside Man
The Reichen Show
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
Parkinson
The Manchurian Candidate
People Like Us: Making 'Philadelphia'
Man on Fire
On Air with Ryan Seacrest
Out of Time
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Antwone Fisher
Behind the Scenes of 'John Q'
John Q
Training Day
Remember the Titans
Straight from the Streets
The Bone Collector
The Early Show
The Hurricane
The Siege
TRL
He Got Game
Fallen
Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special
The View
The Preacher's Wife
NBA at 50
Courage Under Fire
Devil in a Blue Dress
Virtuosity
Crimson Tide
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
The Making of 'Crimson Tide'
Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!
A Century of Cinema
Philadelphia
The Pelican Brief
Late Show with David Letterman
Much Ado About Nothing
Malcolm X
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Ricochet
Mississippi Masala
Rabbit Ears - Anansi
Rabbit Ears - John Henry
Mo' Better Blues
Heart Condition
Glory
ZDF-Mittagsmagazin
The Mighty Quinn
American Experience
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
The George McKenna Story
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
For Queen & Country
Cry Freedom
License to Kill
Power
A Soldier's Story
Goldene Kamera
St. Elsewhere
Wogan
Carbon Copy
Wetten, dass..?
Flesh & Blood
Flesh & Blood
Coriolanus
CBS News Sunday Morning
Wilma
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Great Performances
Tony Awards
The Oscars
Today
Golden Globe Awards
Here Comes the Flood
American Gangster Special
Untitled Hannibal Film
Training Day: Crossing the Line