Denzel Washington Biography

Washington grew up listening to stories and oration. The son of a pentacostal minister and a beautician, he learned the power of speech from his father, and the happiness and pain of peoples’ lives from his mother’s clients talking at her salon.

As a young journalism student, Washington got caught up in student productions, and resolved to study acting when he graduated. He won a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theatre but, after a year, he decided he knew enough to start work on the stage.

Neither a debut film in 1981, nor several roles in TV movies, left any impression on the US audience of 1981, but at least Washington was working.

1982 brought more recognition, when he joined the long-running TV series ‘St Elsewhere’, and the critics raved about his portrayal of Dr Chandler.

Soon after Hollywood began to take note. Richard Attenborough hired Washington to play an anti-apartheid activist in ‘Cry Freedom’ in 1987. His performance won a Best Supporting Actor Nomination.

It was his role as a courageous run-away slave in ‘Glory’ that put Washington on Hollywood’s A-list two years later. And he has remained there ever since, despite work playing in a number of terrible films.

Throughout the 1990s Denzel co-starred in a number of big budget productions including The Pelican Brief (1993), Philadelphia (1993), and Crimson Tide (1995).

However, some of his best performances have been under the direction of Spike Lee. Together they have made three films, including the epic 'Malcolm X'.

He was nominated and won an Oscar for Best Actor for his next film, the 2001 cop thriller, Training Day, which was considered a change of pace for Washington, as he played a villainous character for a change. Many argue that the award was the Academy's way of making up for its past indiscretion in failing to present him with the award for his role in The Hurricane (1999) which many people at the time felt he deserved.

Washington is the second African-American performer ever to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor (for Training Day). The first being Sidney Poitier, who happened to receive an Honorary Academy Award the same night that Washington won for Best Actor.

After appearing in 2002's box office success, John Q., Washington directed his first film, a well-reviewed drama called Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Between 2003 and 2004, Washington appeared in a series of thrillers that performed generally well at the box office, including Out of Time, Man on Fire and The Manchurian Candidate. Two years later he starred in Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, and Déjà Vu. His next project sees him working with Russell Crowe in American Gangster.

He lives quietly in Los Angeles with his wife Pauletta and their four children.