Denzel Washington
- Acting
- December 28, 1954 · 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 · Self
- Denzel Washington: Falling Forward
- Highest 2 Lowest · David King
- Number One on the Call Sheet · Self
- The Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision · Self
- The Making of Gladiator II · Self
- Gladiator II · Macrinus
- The Piano Lesson · Producer
- Denzel Washington: American Icon · Self
- Hollywood Black · Self
- The Wait · Thanks
- The Equalizer 3 · Robert McCall, Producer
- Sidney · Self
- Whitney, a Look Back · Self
- Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act · Self
- A Journal for Jordan · Director, Producer
- The Tragedy of Macbeth · Macbeth
- Val · Self
- The Little Things · Joe 'Deke' Deacon
- Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend · Self
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom · Producer
- Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King · Self
- Giving Voice · Self
- Denzel Washington: Reel Life · Self
- The Equalizer 2 · Robert McCall, Producer
- Roman J. Israel, Esq. · Roman J. Israel, Producer
- Chasing Trane · John Coltrane (Voice)
- Fences · Troy Maxson, Director
- The Magnificent Seven · Sam Chisolm
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert · Self
- Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter · Self
- The Equalizer · Robert McCall, Producer
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon · Self
- 2 Guns · Robert 'Bobby' Trench
- Circus Halligalli · Self
- Flight · Whip Whitaker
- Safe House · Tobin Frost, Executive producer
- Unstoppable · Frank Barnes
- The Book of Eli · Eli, Producer
- Live from Studio Five · Self
- The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 · Walter Garber
- We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial · Self
- Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster' · Self
- The Great Debaters · Melvin B. Tolson, Director
- American Gangster · Frank Lucas
- The Graham Norton Show · Self
- Déjà Vu · Doug Carlin
- Inside Man · Keith Frazier
- The Reichen Show · Self
- Grey's Anatomy · Director
- By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X' · Self
- Parkinson · Self
- The Manchurian Candidate · Major Bennett Ezekiel Marco
- People Like Us: Making 'Philadelphia' · Self
- Man on Fire · John W. Creasy
- On Air with Ryan Seacrest · Self
- Out of Time · Matt Lee Whitlock
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show · Self
- The Evolution of an American Filmmaker · Self
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! · Self
- Antwone Fisher · Dr. Jerome Davenport, Director
- Behind the Scenes of 'John Q' · Self
- John Q · John Quincy Archibald
- Training Day · Alonzo
- Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks · Producer
- Remember the Titans · Coach Herman Boone
- Straight from the Streets · Self
- The Bone Collector · Lincoln Rhyme
- The Early Show · Self
- The Hurricane · Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
- The Siege · Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
- TRL · Self
- He Got Game · Jake Shuttlesworth
- Fallen · John Hobbes
- Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special · Humpty Dumpty / The Crooked Man (Voice)
- The View · Self
- The Preacher's Wife · Dudley
- NBA at 50 · Self
- Courage Under Fire · Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling