Denzel Washington studied journalism at Fordham University before switching to acting. He made his feature film debut in the comedy A Carbon Copy (1981), and he later appeared in the hit TV medical drama St. Elsewhere (1982-88). He went on to star in a number of blockbusters, including Philadelphia, Man on Fire, The Book of Eli, American Gangster, and Flight, and received Academy Awards for his roles in Glory and Training Day. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Fences, an adaptation of August Wilson’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and for the 2017 film Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Early Life and Acting Career
Washington was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on December 28, 1954. He has two brothers and is the son of a Pentecostal minister and a beauty shop owner. Washington first appeared on stage at the age of seven, in a talent show at his local Boys & Girls Club. The club provided him with a safe environment and kept him out of trouble. His parents split when he was 14, and he and his older sister were sent to boarding school.
Washington enrolled at Fordham University, but he struggled academically at first. After taking a break from college, he returned with a renewed interest in performing and graduated with a B.A. in Theatre and Journalism in 1977. Washington went on to receive a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she worked with the Shakespeare in the Park group.
Movies and TV
In the comedy A Carbon Copy, Washington made his feature film debut (1981). Before landing a leading part in the hit television medical drama St. Elsewhere, he appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions and television movies (1982–88). Washington received his first of five Oscar nods for his performance as South African apartheid martyr Steve Biko in Cry Freedom (1987). He later received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Glory (1989).
Throughout the 1990s, Washington featured in several important films, including Spike Lee collaborations such as the jazz excursion Mo’ Better Blues (1990) and the biographical Malcolm X (1992), for which he received an Oscar nomination. Additional productions from this time period were The Pelican Brief (1993), Philadelphia (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Courage Under Fire (1996), and The Hurricane (1999), for which he won a Golden Globe for best actor and was nominated for an Oscar.
Washington won his second Oscar (this time in a leading role) for the cop thriller Training Day in 2001. The next year, he directed and co-starred in his first film, the biographical drama Antwone Fisher. Other hits followed, including Man on Fire (2004), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), and Lee’s Inside Man (2006), in which Jodie Foster and Clive Owen co-starred.
Washington returned to the director’s chair for the documentary The Great Debaters (2007), which followed a winning African American debate team. The same year, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster as Frank Lucas, a real-life Harlem drug kingpin. Washington co-starred with John Travolta in the remake of the classic film The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 in 2009 as MTA Dispatcher Walter Garber.
Washington continued to branch out with a role in the 2010 sci-fi film The Book of Eli. The same year, he received a Tony Award for his performance in Fences, a revival of August Wilson’s classic drama. He earned $20 million for his role as a rogue CIA agent in the 2012 action thriller Safe House, which made more than $200 million worldwide.
Washington also starred in the low-budget movie Flight in 2012, gaining praise and his sixth Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a pilot with substance abuse issues. He subsequently collaborated with Mark Wahlberg on the 2013 crime film 2 Guns before scoring another action blockbuster with The Equalizer in 2014.
Washington won the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association during the annual Golden Globes ceremony in early 2016. Later that year, he directed and acted in the Fences film adaption. He was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his performance in the picture.
The next year, Washington was praised with holding together the erratic Roman J. Israel, Esq., winning Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Actor. Washington reprised his role as The Equalizer in the sequel, The Equalizer 2, in July 2018.
Recent Theater Work
Aside from his performances in Fences in 2010, Washington received great accolades for his performance as the lead in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway in 2014. In 2018, he reprised his role as Theodore “Hickey” Hickman in the Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh.
Wife and Children
In 1983, Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson, with whom he had four children. Their eldest son, John David, was picked by the NFL’s St. Louis Rams in 2006 and sought a professional football career before following in his father’s footsteps into acting. Their other children are Katia, a daughter, and Olivia and Malcolm, twins.