Denzel Washington

Denzel Jermaine Washington, Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor and occasional director and stage actor.

Biography

Early life

Washington was born in Mount Vernon, New York to African-American parents; he has an older sister, Lorice, and a younger brother. Although his father, Dillwyn, Virginia-born Reverend Denzel Washington, was an ordained Pentecostal minister, he worked for the Water Department and at a local department store, "S. Klein". His mother, Lennis, a beauty parlor owner, was born in Georgia and raised in Harlem. Washington was banned from watching movies by his parents, who divorced when he was fourteen. He subsequently went through a rebellious stage, at the end of which several of his friends were sentenced to prison. His mother's reaction to his behavioral problems was to send him to preparatory school, and later on he was sent to Fordham University, where he discovered acting and earned a degree in journalism.

Early career

Washington's first film role was in the 1975 made-for-television movie, Wilma. His big break came when he starred in the popular television hospital drama, St. Elsewhere. He was one of a few actors to appear on the series for its entire six-year run. In 1987, after appearing in several minor theatrical films and stage roles, Washington starred as South African anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom, a role for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, Washington won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing a defiant, self-possessed slave in the film Glory.

Career: 1990s

Washington played one of his most critically acclaimed roles in 1992's Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee. His performance as the Black Nationalist leader earned him an Oscar nomination. Both the influential film critic Roger Ebert and the highly-acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese called the movie one of the ten best films made during the 1990s.

Malcolm X transformed Washington's career, turning him, practically overnight, into one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, such as an offer to play Martin Luther King, Jr., because he wanted to avoid being typecast. The next year, in 1993, he took another risk in his career by playing Joe Miller, the homophobic lawyer of a man with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks, although it was a big risk for Hanks to play the lawyer with AIDS, critics agreed it was also a risk for Washington to play the homophobic Miller. During the early and mid 1990s, Washington became a renowned Hollywood leading man, starring in several successful thrillers, including The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, as well comedies (Much Ado About Nothing) and romantic dramas (The Preacher's Wife).

While filming the 1995 film, Virtuosity, Washington refused to kiss his white female co-star, Kelly Lynch, during a romantic scene between their characters. During an interview, Lynch stated that while she wanted to, "^* felt very strongly about it. I felt there is no problem with interracial romance. But Denzel felt strongly that the white males, who were the target audience of this movie, would not want to see him kiss a white woman." Lynch further stated, "That's a shame. I feel badly about it. I keep thinking that the world's changed, but it hasn't changed quick enough".quotes from Jet magazine, 1995 A similar situation also occurred during the filming of The Pelican Brief when Julia Roberts expressed in an interview her desire to have her character in the film engaged in a romantic relationship with Washington's character. However, in 1998, Washington starred in a scene of a sexual nature with caucasian actress Milla Jovovich, in Spike Lee's He Got Game.

In 1999, Washington starred in The Hurricane, a movie about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was overturned after he had spent almost 20 years in prison. Various newspaper articles have suggested that the controversy over the film’s accuracy may have cost Washington an Oscar for which he was nominated. Washington did receive a Golden Globe Award in 2000 and a 'Silberner Bär' (Silver Berlin Bear) at the Berlin International Film Festival for the role.

Career: 2000s

In 2000, Washington appeared in the crowd-pleasing Disney film, Remember the Titans, which grossed over $100 million at the United States box office. He was nominated and won an Oscar 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 after many roles as a heroic lead. After appearing in 2002's box office success, the Health care-themed 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 box office figures can be found at ^*. His film, Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, opened on March 24, 2006. He is currently in New Orleans for the filming of the upcoming film Deja Vu.

Personal life

In 1983, Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson (now Pauletta Washington), who he met on the set of his first screen role, Wilma. The couple has four children: John David (b. 1983), who signed a football contract with the St. Louis Rams in May 2006 after playing college ball at Morehouse ^*; Katia (b. 1987), Olivia (b. 1991) and Malcolm (b. 1991) (named after Malcolm X). In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.

A pinky finger on one of Washington's hands is broken from a childhood accident.

In 2006, Washington denied rumors that he has had an affair.^*

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2007	American Gangster	Unknown
2006	Deja Vu	Doug Carlin
2006	Inside Man	Keith Frazier
2004	The Manchurian Candidate	Ben Marco
2004	Man on Fire	John Creasy
2003	Out of Time	Matthias Lee Whitlock
2002	Antwone Fisher	Dr. Jerome Davenport	also as director
2002	John Q	John Quincy Archibald
2001	Training Day	Detective Alonzo Harris	Academy Award, Best Actor
2000	Remember the Titans	Coach Herman Boone
1999	The Hurricane	Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
1999	The Bone Collector	Lincoln Rhyme
1998	The Siege	Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
1998	He Got Game	Jake Shuttlesworth
1998	Fallen	Det. John Hobbes
1996	The Preacher's Wife	Dudley
1996	Courage Under Fire	Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling
1995	Devil in a Blue Dress	Easy Rawlins
1995	Virtuosity	Lt. Parker Barnes
1995	Crimson Tide	Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
1993	Philadelphia	Joe Miller
1993	The Pelican Brief	Gray Grantham
1993	Much Ado About Nothing	Don Pedro of Aragon
1992	Malcolm X	Malcolm X
1992	Mississippi Masala	Demetrius Williams
1991	Ricochet	Nick Styles
1990	Mo' Better Blues	Bleek Gilliam
1990	Heart Condition	Napoleon Stone
1989	Glory	Pvt. Trip	Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor
1989	For Queen and Country	Reuben James
1989	The Mighty Quinn	Xavier Quinn
1987	Cry Freedom	Steve Biko
1984	A Soldier's Story	Pfc. Peterson
1981	Carbon Copy	Roger Porter

Academy Awards and nominations

1987 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Cry Freedom
1989 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Glory
1992 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Malcolm X
1999 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Hurricane
2001 - Won - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Training Day

Trivia

Denzel Washington has garnered much critical acclaim for his portrayals of several individuals who actually existed, including Steve Biko (Cry Freedom), Malcolm X (Malcolm X), Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (The Hurricane), and Herman Boone (Remember the Titans). Also noteworthy are his portrayals of Trip (Glory) and Dr. Jerome Davenport (Antwone Fisher), who were inspired by real people.
At the age of nine, Denzel Washington's son John David Washington made a cameo appearance in the film Malcolm X as a student in a Harlem classroom. On May 1, 2006, John (age 22) signed with the St. Louis Rams of the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent.
His name is an ongoing use in the animated hit sitcom Proud Family.
His name is shouted out while Lizzie and her mom are throwing pots in an episode of Lizzie McGuire.
It is rumored that he is in talks with Peter Jackson in New Zealand to discuss his possible involvement in the upcoming movie based on the video game Halo. Although this hasn't been confirmed, many believe he will play the character Sgt. Johnson.

External links

Interviews

Cinema Confidential interview (July 29, 2004)
ING Films interview (July 28, 2004)
IGN Films interview (April 22, 2004)
UGO Films interview (April, 2004)
Deal Memo interview (February 15, 2002)
Univercity interview (February, 2002)
IO film interview (December, 1999)

Web sites

Notes

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