Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington has built a career around authority, restraint and the sense that something volatile may be moving beneath the surface. Born on December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, New York, he studied Drama and Journalism at Fordham University before attending the American Conservatory Theater. His early screen work included the television film Wilma and Carbon Copy, but the hospital drama St. Elsewhere gave him a six-year role as Dr. Phillip Chandler and a major career break. Washington soon demonstrated that his commanding presence could serve sharply different characters. He played anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko in Cry Freedom and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Glory. His collaborations with Spike Lee became a particularly important thread, from the driven jazz musician of Mo’ Better Blues to his acclaimed title performance in Malcolm X, followed by He Got Game, Inside Man and Highest 2 Lowest. Across the 1990s and 2000s, Washington moved easily between historical drama, character studies and muscular studio thrillers. Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Courage Under Fire and The Hurricane all drew on his ability to convey intelligence under pressure. Training Day turned that familiar command in a more menacing direction: his performance as corrupt Los Angeles police officer Alonzo Harris won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also developed productive working relationships with directors Tony Scott and Antoine Fuqua, leading to films including Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, Unstoppable and The Equalizer series. His work has never been limited to acting for the camera. Washington directed Antwone Fisher, The Great Debaters, Fences and A Journal for Jordan. He also played Troy Maxson in both the Broadway revival and film adaptation of Fences, winning a Tony Award for the stage performance and receiving an Academy Award nomination for the film. Later roles in The Tragedy of Macbeth and Gladiator II continued a career defined less by one type of part than by the weight, tension and close attention he brings to each one.